This important book shows how psychotherapy can address severe eating disorders in children and young people, illustrating the ways an imprisoned self can be released from suffering. The book features a range of case studies while addressing core issues such as self-harm, hallucinations and the threat of suicide, as well as related topics such as depression and psychosis. Illustrating the psychological roots to eating disorders, it places therapy within hospital, clinical and multi-disciplinary contexts, as well as displaying how psychoanalytic theory can be applied across various settings and in different teams. Written by an eminent author in the field, this will be a key text for anyone wishing to understand eating disorders in children from a psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic dimension.

This important book shows how psychotherapy can address severe eating disorders in children and young people, illustrating the ways an imprisoned self can be released from suffering. The book features a range of case studies while addressing core issues such as self-harm, hallucinations and the threat of suicide, as well as related topics such as depression and psychosis. Illustrating the psychological roots to eating disorders, it places therapy within hospital, clinical and multi-disciplinary contexts, as well as displaying how psychoanalytic theory can be applied across various settings and in different teams. Written by an eminent author in the field, this will be a key text for anyone wishing to understand eating disorders in children from a psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic dimension.

This book represents an innovative project in which parents, teachers and other professionals work collaboratively to observe children, understand them at a deep emotional level through their play and interaction with others, and facilitate their relationships with themselves as individuals and with others. The work described has been particularly important in nurturing children's creativity and fostering effective relationships between teachers, parents and children. The innovative nursery described has been an important preventative facility in promoting the wellbeing of young children. The Italian government has supported this highly esteemed project.

This book arose out of the need to work with emotionally regressed non-talking children who entered hospital in full retreat from the external world. It helps parents and professionals compassionately comprehend the child's difficulties in depending on someone to receive communication.

This book represents an innovative project in which parents, teachers and other professionals work collaboratively to observe children, understand them at a deep emotional level through their play and interaction with others and facilitate their relationships with themselves as individuals and with others. The work described has been particularly important in fostering children's creativity and fostering effective relationships between teachers, parents and children. The innovative nursery described has been an important preventative facility in promoting the well being of young children. The Italian government has supported this highly esteemed project.

Originally published in 1981, this study is the outcome of a clinical workshop based in the Adolescent Department at the Tavistock Clinic; its members at the time shared a tradition and interest in applying psychoanalytic principles to the understanding of groups and institutions and believed in the crucial relevance of these in work with families. It is written with the general reader in mind as well as those who work specifically in the field of family therapy or psychoanalysis. The approach is based on two particular developments; that of Object Relations Psychoanalytic practice, derived especially from the work of Freud and Melanie Klein; and the application of this to the understanding of Group Relations following the work of W.R. Bion and others, such as A.K. Rice and Pierre Turquet. It thus embraces the idea of the family as a system and includes attempts to understand the processes involved in such a system. But, unlike other comparable approaches, this one implies working with the group dynamics of the family, especially in terms of the way the family members perceive and engage the therapists. The attempt is to create a space for the family to relive and think about conflicts as they emerge in the therapeutic setting. Analytic theory is matched by much clinical material, and a glossary defines the key concepts.

Creativity and Psychotic States in Exceptional People tells the story of the lives of four exceptionally gifted individuals: Vincent van Gogh, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jose Saramago and John Nash. Previously unpublished chapters by Murray Jackson are set in a contextual framework by Jeanne Magagna, revealing the wellspring of creativity in the subjects' emotional experiences and delving into the nature of psychotic states which influence and impede the creative process. Jackson and Magagna aim to illustrate how psychoanalytic thinking can be relevant to people suffering from psychotic states of mind and provide understanding of the personalities of four exceptionally talented creative individuals. Present in the text are themes of loving and losing, mourning and manic states, creating as a process of repairing a sense of internal damage and the use of creativity to understand or run away from oneself. The book concludes with a glossary of useful psychoanalytic concepts. Creativity and Psychotic States in Exceptional People will be fascinating reading for psychiatrists, psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, other psychoanalytically informed professionals, students and anyone interested in the relationship between creativity and psychosis.

"The Silent Child" describes a way of understanding and communicating with children who are not speaking, but rather using their bodies and somatic symptoms to express states of mind. Jeanne Magagna has worked for 45 years trying to find ways of helping these children, varying in age and symptoms. Using infant observation methods of understanding primitive states of mind expressed through gestures of eyes, hands, body posture, she has worked in in-patient or out-patient settings with contributors: a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, family and child psychotherapists, physiotherapists, nurses, therapeutic care workers, teachers, parents groups and work discussion seminar members in out-patient and in-patient settings. In their chapters, the professionals and a parent show how they use their observation, empathy and countertransference experiences to promote understanding in the silent child and his/her parents and siblings.This book is particularly important for mental health professionals, teachers and parents who are encountering "a child communicating without words." It will assist them in being curious and nurturing rather than paralyzed by the experience of having to think without the child s verbal response.Contributors: Jeanne Magagna, Nancy L. Bakalar, Melanie Bladen, Sarah Dixon, Alex Dubinsky, Jo Guiney, Bryan Lask, Natalie Le Clezio, Tara Pepper-Goldsmith, Cynthia Rousso, Ankur Sharma, Michelle Scott, Naomi Simon, David Wood, Charlotte Wormald."

This inspiring volume highlights the importance of infant observation in psychotherapy training, as well as its benefits for the observer's personal growth. Following Esther Bick's infant observation model, the authors show how observing babies can contribute greatly to understanding the relationship between the baby and his parents, as well as the relationship between the parents, and the general mental well-being of the immediate family. Inspiring case studies accompany the theory and readers get immersed in these vignettes as they discuss observing premature babies, healthy babies, babies with troubled parents, and sibling rivalry. The papers discuss the crucial element of mother-baby dialogue and how this special relationship is manifested through movements, gestures, and vocalizations. The need for continuity in primal relationships at the early stages of life is acknowledged and its contribution to emotional and mental health later in life is celebrated in this volume. The contributions also analyze the possible negative effects of an observer's presence in the family setting--something of a neglected topic in infant observation literature. Practical matters of infant observation are brought forward and discussed, and a pioneering work including infant observation seminar via video-link is also detailed in the book."Remarkable for its breadth and depth, "Intimate Transformations" is a vivid demonstration of infant observation and its value for the study of human development, psychotherapy practice, education, and institutional consultation. "Intimate Transformations" immerses therapists in the world of early experience and unconscious fantasy and brings us face to face with the precious resource of our own inner world. The contributors' detailed descriptions are important reading for therapists, parents, and educators. They plunge therapists deep into a discussion of the primitive fantasies that underlie the distress of adult patients. They give parents more than a glimpse of subtleties that escape their attention when they are on the front line raising their own children." --Jill Savege Scharff M.D., M.R.C.Psych., Co-Director International Psychotherapy Institute, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University, Washington DC, and Teaching Analyst, Washington Psychoanalytic InstituteThe Contributors: Simonetta Adamo, Nancy Bakalar, Hope Cooper, Jaedene Levy, Jeanne Magagna, Christine Norman, David Scharff, and Carolyn Shank

This enriching book describes the value of learning about the development of the human personality through the experience of observing a baby in the context of the family. It is distinctive in the field of infant observation literature, for it shows how the affective learning augments the learning experience. It also highlights a somewhat neglec

Originally published in 1981, this study is the outcome of a clinical workshop based in the Adolescent Department at the Tavistock Clinic; its members at the time shared a tradition and interest in applying psychoanalytic principles to the understanding of groups and institutions and believed in the crucial relevance of these in work with families. It is written with the general reader in mind as well as those who work specifically in the field of family therapy or psychoanalysis. The approach is based on two particular developments; that of Object Relations Psychoanalytic practice, derived especially from the work of Freud and Melanie Klein; and the application of this to the understanding of Group Relations following the work of W.R. Bion and others, such as A.K. Rice and Pierre Turquet. It thus embraces the idea of the family as a system and includes attempts to understand the processes involved in such a system. But, unlike other comparable approaches, this one implies working with the group dynamics of the family, especially in terms of the way the family members perceive and engage the therapists. The attempt is to create a space for the family to relive and think about conflicts as they emerge in the therapeutic setting. Analytic theory is matched by much clinical material, and a glossary defines the key concepts.

Contemporary Child Psychotherapy: Integration and Imagination in Creative Clinical Practice demonstrates the step-by-step process of developing the depth of understanding, creativity, knowledge and skill that underpin a modern integrative child psychotherapist. Portrayed is a flexible model that is fluid and evolving, bringing together traditional, long-held ideas with fresh perspectives and up-to-date research. In bringing together psychoanalytic theory, attachment theory, trauma theories, the arts and creativity, neuroscience and the body, a rich framework is created. From this, the individual integrative child psychotherapist can choose the interventions which best foster the emotional development of each unique child and their parents today.

Creativity and Psychotic States in Exceptional People tells the story of the lives of four exceptionally gifted individuals: Vincent van Gogh, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jose Saramago and John Nash. Previously unpublished chapters by Murray Jackson are set in a contextual framework by Jeanne Magagna, revealing the wellspring of creativity in the subjects' emotional experiences and delving into the nature of psychotic states which influence and impede the creative process. Jackson and Magagna aim to illustrate how psychoanalytic thinking can be relevant to people suffering from psychotic states of mind and provide understanding of the personalities of four exceptionally talented creative individuals. Present in the text are themes of loving and losing, mourning and manic states, creating as a process of repairing a sense of internal damage and the use of creativity to understand or run away from oneself. The book concludes with a glossary of useful psychoanalytic concepts. Creativity and Psychotic States in Exceptional People will be fascinating reading for psychiatrists, psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, other psychoanalytically informed professionals, students and anyone interested in the relationship between creativity and psychosis.