The Earliest Relationship Parents, Infants and the Drama of Early Attachment

Never before has research on newborn behavior and parent-infant interaction been fully integrated with psychoanalytic insight into parents' emotions and fantasies.This bookprovide a vivid glimpse of the parents' daydreams and narcissistic wishes which grow into a desire for a child, and they show how these feelings develop into importan

Preface -- Pregnancy: The Birth of Attachment -- Introduction -- The Prehistory of Attachment -- The Dawn of Attachment -- Attachment in Fathers-to-Be -- The Newborn as Participant -- Introduction -- The Appearance of the Newborn and Its Impact -- Reflexes in the Newborn -- The Five Senses in the Newborn -- States of Consciousness -- Assessment of the Newborn -- Individual Differences -- Observing Early Interaction -- Introduction -- Interaction Studies: An Overview -- Interaction in Context -- Still-Face Studies -- Four Stages in Early Interaction -- Essentials of Early Interaction -- Imaginary Interactions -- Introduction -- Giving Meaning to Infant Behavior -- The Infant As Ghost -- Reenacting Past Modes of Relationship -- The Child As One Part of the Parent -- Assessing Imaginary Interactions -- Understanding the Earliest Relationship: A Complementary Approach to Infant Assessment -- Introduction -- Combining Developmental Observations and Analytic Insight -- Assessing Interaction -- Lisa: "Angry Already" -- Sebastian: "Reproachful Eyes" -- Peter: "Wild Man" -- Clarissa: "No Matter What" -- Bob: "They Took Him Away" -- Antonio: "A Bad Eye" -- Sarah: "Malina" -- Mary: "Time Out" -- Julian: "The Tyrant" -- Assessment As Intervention

Berry Brazelton, T.