Infant observation

The idea that the future development of psychoanalysis lay in child analysis led to the encouragement by Freud, Ferenczi and Abraham of the two most significant figures in child analysis in the 20th century: Anna Freud and Melanie Klein. Each of these women based their theories on close observation of children, in both clinical and ordinary life settings. In this chapter, the story is presented of how Klein's work led to the invention of Infant Observation as a disciplined practice within psychoanalytic education and how the experience of observing infants in turn influenced the scope and direction of clinical work in psychoanalysis