The Infinite Infantile and the Psychoanalytic Task

""Child analysis is often regarded as an offspring of adult analysis. In some ways this is historically correct. Simultaneously, child analysis often is in the vanguard of technical and theoretical advances which become the foundations of schools of psychoanalytic thought. This fine volume makes it abundantly clear why this is so. From many different vantage points, play in all of its vicissitudes is examined and the ways in which changing times and changing demands inform the structure of the Spielraum, the play space, and thus the nature of the analytic data. What remains the same is the meaningfulness of the deep play which evolves in a safe enough place with a significant adult other. This is the hallmark of child analysis. This volume is a significant contribution valuable for all child analysts and all adult analysts too."" - James Herzog, Adult and Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst; Training and Supervisory Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; Supervisory Analyst, Sigmund Freud Institute, Zurich, and Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, Boston ""Thanks to its unique inter-regional scope, this fascinating collection of essays proposes today the most updated and complete exploration of child and adolescent issues and treatments in contemporary psychoanalysis, and thereby reopen their exciting intellectual and clinical potential. The many theoretical and clinical contributions by brilliant and erudite scholars offer a fresh take on the babies, children, and teenagers of our difficult time, from the pandemic, the cyberspace to developmental issues and the analyst’s work of containment and interpretation. This very accessible book offers rich reflections on child psychoanalysis that will challenge and enlighten readers of all backgrounds, starting from their training and in their following professional evolution up to the highest scientific and professional level."" - Stefano Bolognini, Psychiatrist and Training and Supervising Analyst; former President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society; past-President, IPA; Founder, Inter-Regional Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychoanalysis; author, Secret Passages: The Theory and Technique of Interpsychic Relations (Routledge) ""Child analysis is often regarded as an offspring of adult analysis. In some ways this is historically correct. Simultaneously, child analysis often is in the vanguard of technical and theoretical advances which become the foundations of schools of psychoanalytic thought. This fine volume makes it abundantly clear why this is so. From many different vantage points, play in all of its vicissitudes is examined and the ways in which changing times and changing demands inform the structure of the Spielraum, the play space, and thus the nature of the analytic data. What remains the same is the meaningfulness of the deep play which evolves in a safe enough place with a significant adult other. This is the hallmark of child analysis. This volume is a significant contribution valuable for all child analysts and all adult analysts too."" - James Herzog, Adult and Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst; Training and Supervisory Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; Supervisory Analyst, Sigmund Freud Institute, Zurich, and Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, Boston ""Thanks to its unique inter-regional scope, this fascinating collection of essays proposes today the most updated and complete exploration of child and adolescent issues and treatments in contemporary psychoanalysis, and thereby reopen their exciting intellectual and clinical potential. The many theoretical and clinical contributions by brilliant and erudite scholars offer a fresh take on the babies, children, and teenagers of our difficult time, from the pandemic, the cyberspace to developmental issues and the analyst’s work of containment and interpretation. This very accessible book offers rich reflections on child psychoanalysis that will challenge and enlighten readers of all backgrounds, starting from their training and in their following professional evolution up to the highest scientific and professional level."" - Stefano Bolognini, Psychiatrist and Training and Supervising Analyst; former President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society; past-President, IPA; Founder, Inter-Regional Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychoanalysis; author, Secret Passages: The Theory and Technique of Interpsychic Relations (Routledge)