Thinking about Children

A lifetime of thinking about the nature of the child and the origins of human nature is distilled in this single rich volume. D. W. Winnicott is increasingly recognized as one of the giants of psychoanalysis whose influence, not only in the behavioral sciences but also in literary and cultural studies, continues to grow. In this book he covers issues of enduring interest such as autism, adoption, early infant development, psychosomatic problems, and family relationships. }A lifetime of thinking about the nature of the child and the origins of human nature is distilled in this single rich volume. D. W. Winnicott is increasingly recognized as one of the giants of psychoanalysis whose influence, not only in the behavioral sciences but also in literary and cultural studies, continues to grow. He is represented here in the full scope of his insights, observations, and clinical experience.Of the work included, which covers over forty years of his writing, only three essays have previously been published in book form. Ranging from his extraordinarily observant case histories to landmark theoretical advances, Thinking About Children covers issues of enduring interest such as autism, adoption, early infant development, psychosomatic problems, and family relationships. Winnicotts empathy and wit burst through in each chapter, while his deep understanding of the unity of mother and baby, of mind and body, prefigures some of the newest concepts in medicine and psychology.A comprehensive bibliography of all Winnicotts writings, together with a helpful introductory analysis of the place of individual concepts in the development of his thought, make this book indispensable to those who know Winnicotts work and an ideal introduction to those who have not experienced the astonishing clarity and depth of his thought. }

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Observation, Intuition, And Empathy; Towards an Objective Study of Human Nature; Yes, But How Do We Know Its True?; Early Infant Development; Primary Introduction to External Reality: The Early Stages; Environmental Needs; The Early Stages; Total Dependence and Essential Independence; The Family; The Bearing of Emotional Development on Feeding Problems; Sleep Refusal in Children; The Effect of Loss on the Young; Out of the Mouths of Adolescents; The Delinquent and Habitual Offender; A Clinical Approach to Family Problems: The Family; Starting School; Mental Hygiene of the Pre-School Child; The Teacher, the Parent, and the Doctor; Case Studies And Observations; A Clinical Example of Symptomatology; Notes on a Little Boy; The Niffle; Adoption; Two Adopted Children; Pitfalls in Adoption; Adopted Children in Adolescence; Psychosomatic Problems; Contribution to a Discussion on Enuresis; Papular Urticaria and the Dynamics of Skin Sensation; Short Communication on Enuresis; Child Psychiatry: The Body as Affected by Psychological Factors; On Cardiac Neurosis in Children; Autism And Schizophrenia; Three Reviews of Books on Autism; Autism; The Aetiology of Infantile Schizophrenia in Terms of Adaptive Failure; Professional Care Of The Growing Child; Training for Child Psychiatry: The Paediatric Department of Psychology; Notes on the Time Factor in Treatment; The Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry Observed as a Group Phenomenon; A Link Between Paediatrics and Child Psychology: Clinical Observations; Child Psychiatry, Social Work, and Alternative Care.