The Developmental Roots of Self-Injury and Response to Pain in a 4-Year-Old Boy

Comments on: “Developmental Psychoanalysis and Developmental Objects”

“…I ask the question: What in the analytic work helped the child, Aiden, move forward in his development? I agree with the author and with the numerous writers who elaborated Anna Freud's ideas, that her psychoanalytic theory of development, although an important step forward, had limitations that led to the need for "exceptions" to the standard technique of child analysis (Kennedy and Moran, 1984;Gavshon, 1987;Edgcumbe, 1993Edgcumbe, , 2000Miller, 1996, Hurry, 1998. I suggest that a theory of therapeutic action adequate to explain the significant gains made by the preschool child in this case study must move even further, to incorporate some of the insights gained from contemporary scientific studies of infants and young children.…”

Expanding the Clinical Utility of the Concept of Developmental Help to Engage the Severely Disturbed Adult Patient in a Psychoanalytic Process

“…I will describe several types of interventions which provide`developmental help' and offer additional technical recommendations consistent with this line of thinking as it applies to adult work. The most common intervention from a`developmental help' perspective is that which improves and clarifies reality (Kennedy & Moran 1984, 1990Szydlo 1985). Clarifying and understanding the external realities of life can reduce cognitive confusion as well as help modulate the intensity of affects.…”

“…Restrictions, limit setting and the provision of rules are an important part of the therapeutic frame with all patients. However, these parameters are more commonly employed with children in analysis (Kennedy & Moran 1984,1990Szydlo 1985) where, as in our work with adults, acceptance of many basicr ules', such as appointment times, payment, free associations, etc., are assumed and then readdressed if the treatment process is threatened or disrupted.…”

The Consultation Process With an Adult: a Child Analyst's Perspective

“…With the younger patient, analysts must walk a tightrope in determining if, when, and how to interpret nonverbal activity, which often makes up a great deal of the child's communications. In addition, because the younger patient may require a mixture of "developmental help" (Kennedy and Moran 1984) or developmental assists (Abrams and Solnit 1998), as well as interventions that explore the unconscious meanings of play, the child analyst must constantly weigh the value of intervening in a therapeutic though noninterpretive fashion that allows developmental processes to take root, perhaps temporarily holding in abeyance interpretations of conf lict and defense. Although adults do not ride the waves of developmental processes as children do, the ripples are still felt and so need to be assessed to determine how they should be dealt with in the consultation.…”