Constructing the infantile
Litowitz, Bonnie E.
Constructing the infantile - 2021.
6
This paper addresses the multiple dimensions that contribute to constructions of the infantile, as they inform different psychoanalytic perspectives. Three dimensions are considered: the infantile body; the infantile mind; and the infantile psyche. Brief reviews of our current knowledge of the infant’s physical state and earliest mentation, derived from observational and experimental methodologies, are presented. I ask, should psychoanalysts incorporate such knowledge or only rely on clinical data, from our own methodologies, for reconstructions of the infantile psyche? Further, I examine the sources in Freudian texts that legitimate reconstructions of the infantile psyche, but also note theorists who have chosen alternate approaches. Ultimately, I conclude that which particular dimensions are most germane to any psychoanalyst’s construction of the infantile depends upon their usefulness in establishing intersubjectivity with patients in clinical practice.
Constructing the infantile - 2021.
6
This paper addresses the multiple dimensions that contribute to constructions of the infantile, as they inform different psychoanalytic perspectives. Three dimensions are considered: the infantile body; the infantile mind; and the infantile psyche. Brief reviews of our current knowledge of the infant’s physical state and earliest mentation, derived from observational and experimental methodologies, are presented. I ask, should psychoanalysts incorporate such knowledge or only rely on clinical data, from our own methodologies, for reconstructions of the infantile psyche? Further, I examine the sources in Freudian texts that legitimate reconstructions of the infantile psyche, but also note theorists who have chosen alternate approaches. Ultimately, I conclude that which particular dimensions are most germane to any psychoanalyst’s construction of the infantile depends upon their usefulness in establishing intersubjectivity with patients in clinical practice.
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