A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental PsychologyChallenging the traditional developmental sequence as well as the idea that issues of attachment, dependency, and trust are confined to infancy, Stern integrates clinical and experimental science to support his revolutionizing vision of the social and emotional life of the youngest children, which has had spiraling implications for theory, research, and practice. A new introduction by the author celebrates this first paperback edition.

This book explores the nature of parent-infant psychotherapies, therapies that are a major segment of the rapidly growing, sprawling field of infant mental health. It examines the different elements that make up the parent-infant clinical system.

This book explores the nature of parent-infant psychotherapies, therapies that are a major segment of the rapidly growing, sprawling field of infant mental health. It examines the different elements that make up the parent-infant clinical system.

Noted psychiatrist Daniel Stern brings together exciting new research on infants and the insights of psychoanalysis to offer an original theory of how humans create a sense of themselves and others. This dazzling book represents a truly original, perhaps revolutionary contribution to psychodynamic theory and practice.--Arnold Cooper, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Notes, Diagrams/Charts and Index.

This book attempts to create a dialogue between the infant as revealed by the experimental approach and as clinically reconstructed, in the service of resolving the contradiction between theory and reality. It describes the several ways that organization can form in the infant's mind.

Beginning with the claim that we are psychologically alive only in the now, internationally acclaimed child psychiatrist Daniel N. Stern tackles vexing yet fascinating questions such as: what is the nature of 'nowness'? How is 'now' experienced between two people? What do present moments have to do with therapeutic growth and change? Certain moments of shared immediate experience, such as a knowing glance across a dinner table, are paradigmatic of what Stern shows to be the core of human experience, the 3 to 5 seconds he identifies as 'the present moment.' By placing the present moment at the center of psychotherapy, Stern alters our ideas about how therapeutic change occurs, and about what is significant in therapy. As much a meditation on the problems of memory and experience as it is a call to appreciate every moment of experience, The Present Moment is a must-read for all who are interested in the latest thinking about human experience.

In his new book, eminent psychologist - Daniel Stern, author of the classic The interpersonal world of the infant, explores the hitherto neglected topic of "vitality" - that is, the force or power manifested by all living things.
Vitality takes on many dynamic forms and permeates daily life, psychology, psychotherapy and the arts, yet what is vitality? We know that it is a manifestation of life, of being alive. We are very alert to its feel in ourselves and its expression in others. Life shows itself in so many different forms of vitality. But just how can we study this phenomenon? Till now, this has been a topic considered impervious to any kind of scientific study, but according to the Stern, it is possible to trace vitality to real physical and mental operations-- including movement, time, perception of force - as well as spatial aspects of the movement and its underlying intention. Within this fascinating book he shows how an understanding of vitality can help the psychotherapeutic process (including a look at the developmental origins of forms of vitality) and looks at how these theories of vitality might fit with our current knowledge of the workings of the brain.
Truly a tour de force from a brilliant clinician and scientist, Forms of Vitality is a profound and absorbing book - one that will be essential reading for psychologists, psychotherapists, and those in the creative arts.

Der 8. Band der Lindauer Texte enthalt die Vortrage des Leitthemas der ersten Woche der Lindauer Psychotherapiewochen: Das Narrativ - aus dem Leben Erzahltes. Die hier veroffentlichten Vortrage zeigen die vielfaltigen Moglichkeiten mit Erzahltem umzugehen auf. In den verschiedenen Formen therapeutischen Handelns wird jeweils anders erzahlt; Therapeutin und Therapeut laden dazu mit ihrem Setting recht unterschiedlich ein. Sie haben, auch beruhend auf dem bevorzugtem theoretischen Hintergrund andere Moglichkeiten, mit "aus dem Leben Erzahltem" umzugehen. Vieles wird in den Erzahlungen konstruiert und deutend rekonstruiert, der psychoanalytische Dialog fuhrt so zu wichtigen Lebenszusammenhangen. Im narrativen Selbst findet aus dem Leben Erzahltes ein umfassendes theoretisches Konzept.

Daniel Stern's pathbreaking video-based research into the intimate complexities of mother-infant interaction has had an enormous impact on psychotherapy and developmental psychology. His minute analyses of the exchanges between mothers and babies have offered empirical support and correction for many theories of development. In the complex and instinctive choreography of "conversations," including smiles, gestures, and gazing, Stern discerned patterns of both emotional harmony and emotional incongruity that illuminate children's relationships with others in the larger world.

Now a noted authority on early development, Stern first reviewed his unique methods and observations in "The First Relationship," Intended for parents as well as for therapists and researchers, it offers a lucid and nontechnical overview of the author's key ideas and encapsulates the major themes of his subsequent books.

"When I reread "The First Relationship" I was astonished to find in it almost all the ideas that have guided my work in the subsequent decades. At first I didn't know whether to be depressed or delighted. As I thought it over, I am encouraged by the realization that I had some basic perspective at the very beginning that was sufficiently well founded to guide twenty-five years of observation and ideas...This book makes it possible to see, or foresee, the unfolding of an intrinsic design."--from the new introduction by Daniel Stern