Trudy Klauber

The significance of trauma in work with the parents of severely disturbed children, and its implications for work with parents in general

Abstract Living with disturbed children is seen as traumatizing to vulnerable parents, who identify their disturbed child with trauma so that their parental functioning is disrupted and parenting capacities lost or impaired. This paper links Tischlers thoughts on work with the parents of psychotic and autistic children with more recent work by Garland on the impact of trauma on psychic function in adults, suggesting that the personal disaster of having and living with such children is as traumatizing as a major public one. Those who undertake work with parents need to be sensitive to their impact on parents who may feel further traumatized rather than supported. It is suggested that an understanding of post-traumatic stress phenomena may increase the sensitivity of the child psychotherapist to these hypervigilant parents who so quickly feel persecuted. Commitment to work with parents often needs to be long-term. Well-established trust allows the worker to move between levels in the work, from that of giv...

The many faces of Asperger's syndrome

This is the first book on the psychoanalytic treatment of children, young people and adults with Aspergers syndrome. It includes multi-disciplinary contributions on psychiatric perspectives and psychological theories of the condition. There is an overview of relevant psychoanalytic theory, and chapters on Aspergers original paper, on first-person accounts, on assessment and on care in the community. Clinical case histories of children, young people and the first published account of work with adults provide the possibility of using psychoanalytic work as a means of diagnostically differentiating between sub-groups, as well as providing a detailed insight into the emotional experience of people with Aspergers syndrome.Both Editors teach on the Tavistock Clinic Training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy. They are widely published authors and have both given lectures and papers in the UK, Europe and the United States.

Infant observation and the Tavistock model of teaching and learning: continuity and change

This paper reviews the changing context of infant observation from the teaching perspective. It considers the benefits of infant observation (Bicks method) as set out by Martha Harris in 1976, and the challenges and opportunities posed to infant observation seminar leaders. These include the widening cultural, educational and social background of observers, the choice of family and the broader definition of what constitutes an ordinary family. The clinical context of public sector psychotherapy and its increasing emphasis on evidence-based work is also considered as a factor bearing on the seminar leaders capacities.

Ethical issues in infant observation: Preliminary thoughts on establishing an observation

Abstract Infant observation is now being undertaken in a changed and changing social and ethical climate, where legislation demands transparency in all activities involving human subjects. This paper attempts to look at setting up and undertaking an infant observation and discusses questions in a number of areas: what is written for professional intermediaries and for parents; how might new observers introduce themselves; how do we think about and establish informed consent; how do we create an atmosphere in which open and reflective thought can be supported? This paper considers the internal and the external context and argues for the importance of non-defensive, thoughtful responses as further questions arise about observations which are generally experienced as beneficial for observed and observer, and are fundamentally significant in the professional development of psychoanalytic practitioners and in professional interactions in health and allied professions.

Early experience, developmental tasks and the blossoming of the capacity to learn

Abstract Illustrations from one infant observation are used to discuss the early development of the capacity to learn and develop the mind. A description of the psychoanalytic theory of learning beginning with Freud and moving to Klein, Bion and Winnicott is the theoretical context for the illustrations. The paper moves on to discuss hypotheses about the babys mental and cognitive development. The baby and his mother are able, the author suggests, to work through a less than ideal start to their relationship and to learn together in a way that fosters creative learning from experience.

First international conference on work discussion Vienna from 10 to 12th June 2016

The first international conference on ‘Work Discussion’ took place at the University of Vienna in June 2016. The event which was organised with great care and efficiency by staff and graduate students from the Universities of Klagenfurt and of Vienna was the first of its kind. Accordingly it is probably worth beginning with a definition of Work Discussion, an application of Infant Observation invented by Martha Harris, then Head of Child Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic. Harris described the concept of talking about work as an application of infant observation as follows:

Obituary: Dr. Cathy Urwin, born 13 September 1949, died 2 June 2012

Cathy Urwin, originally a developmental psychology researcher, who trained and worked as a child psychotherapist and was, for a time, book review editor for this journal, died, after a short illness, on 2 June 2012. Her clinical acumen, her passion for research and for psychoanalysis and her extraordinary energy in supporting and developing child psychotherapists in training will be sorely missed. Cathy’s research work in developmental psychology which included her doctoral thesis on the development of communication and language in blind babies, led her to work with such eminent figures as Jerome Bruner, Colwyn Trevarthen and John and Elizabeth Newsom. She held an academic post at Warwick University and a senior research fellowship in the Childcare and Development Group at Cambridge. She decided to train as a child psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic, and while she was training, she also taught child development research to students on the PG Diploma/MA in Psychoanalytic Observational Studies. She held two major clinical posts as a child psychotherapist, one in Tower Hamlets from 1989 to 2006, and then from 2006 until her death, in the Child and Family Department at the Tavistock Clinic. In Tower Hamlets she worked a lot with young children who were diagnosed autistic, and began to distinguish between those with specific language and communication difficulties, those with features which appeared similar to autism and those who were truly on the autistic spectrum. Her deep understanding of child development and of the internal world were brought together to help many children and their families; she supported the development of child psychotherapists in training as well as other colleagues and initiated outcome research on the hopes and expectations of parents and clinicians for children in psychotherapy. Many children with developmental delay, expressive language difficulties and autistic features were helped directly by Cathy and trainees and others whom she supervised. She was open, active, playful and containing in the support of development of their sense of self, lessening anxiety and supporting the development of language and more symbolic play. Infant Observation Vol. 15, No. 3, December 2012, 297 298

Ninth International Conference of Infant Observation and its applications according to the method of Esther Bick

Babies in all their states Observation of babies in different cultural contexts (family, environment, institution . . .) Senegal is the location for pioneering work in baby observation amongst the Francophone nations of Africa. Readers of this Journal will be well aware that baby observation and its applications is already established in South Africa. This Conference aims to give special attention to babies in developing countries; babies, who are very often exposed to the violent changes that their families live through as the country moves from a traditional to a ‘modern’ and often urban, culture. Maternal traditions, so vital in traditional African family life, are at risk of being lost, especially in urban settings where different housing has also contributed to the disappearance of the extended family. This reduces the likelihood that toddlers’ needs to be contained, attended to and cared for will be met. The conference organisers believe that making the observation method better known and available, starting with this part of Africa, will promote and support better public health, as well as a greater respect for children and their rights and those of women and parents. They write that, ‘Each baby confronts us with a past cultural heritage (ours and that of our ancestors) and a future which can be rich in promises. . . .’ They believe that Infant Observation as created by Esther Bick in 1948 is fundamentally important as part of training for all professionals working with infants and their carers as well as those people who work with situations where they encounter primitive and infantile states of mind (See Sandri this volume). An observation training also allow other professionals, who do not ordinarily work with children, to develop and strengthen their understanding of the archaic levels of psychological functioning which are present in everyone, not only in patients of course. Baby observation ‘confronts us with the mystery of the origin of psychological life and its first manifestations, with the body language Infant Observation Vol. 15, No. 2, August 2012, 203 206

Using the video Observation Observed in teaching: A discussion

Abstract An account of a discussion at the Tavistock Clinic between a group of child and adult psychotherapists who have used the video Observation Observed in the teaching of infant observation and a wide range of related courses, including with health visitors, social workers, school teachers and students of psychology and counselling. The discussion highlights the tremendous potential of video as a teaching tool, the accessibility of video as a medium and its ability to interest and engage audiences new to psychoanalytical ideas or even those hostile to them. The complexity and power of video material is discussed, with consideration of its potential impact on viewers and how these can be understood and contained. Discussants also raise issues about objectivity and subjectivity in relation to the camera, and the benefits and disadvantages of collective viewing, including in diverse ethnic and social groups.