Surviving Space

Surviving Space is a collection of papers on infant observation and related issues by contemporary experts in the field, commemorating the centenary of Esther Bick and the unique contribution she has made to psychoanalytic theory. As part of the prestigious Tavistock Clinic Series, this is an essential addition to this highly-valued and innovative series. Infant observation is crucial to most psychotherapy training, and this work would be of obvious value to those commencing their training, as well as valuable insights for all psychotherapists.

Andrew Briggs is Head of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Sussex Partnership NHS Trust, and an organisational consultant with many years experience working with senior managers and teams within public sector and not-for-profit organisations delivering services to adopted children and children in care. He is a visiting lecturer to Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust for courses on public sector leadership and management, and was a former Teaching Fellow in the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Kent Institute for Medical and Health Studies, University of Kent. He is the author of many peer-reviewed papers on aspects of child and adolescent psychotherapy and editor of two books in the Karnac Tavistock series: 'Surviving Space: Papers on Infant Observation' (2002), and 'Waiting to be Found: Papers on Children in Care' (2012).

Series Editors' Preface -- Foreword -- The Life and Work of Esther Bick -- Introduction -- Pioneering Ideas: The Papers of Esther Bick -- Child analysis today [1962] -- Notes on infant observation in psycho-analytic training [1964] -- The experience of the skin in early object relations [1968] -- Further considerations on the function of the skin in early object relations -- Pushing at the Boundaries -- Three years of observation with Mrs Bick -- Mrs Bick and infant observation -- The relevance of infant and young-child observation in multidisciplinary assessments for the family courts -- Mrs Bick's contribution to the understanding of severe feeding difficulties and pervasive refusal -- Applying the observational method: observing organizations -- Secondary skin and culture: reflections on some aspects of teaching Traveller children -- Reflections on the function of the skin in psychosocial space -- The skin in early object relations revisited -- Whom does the skin belong to? Trauma, communication, and sense of self -- Failures to link: attacks or defects, disintegration or unintegration? -- Looking in the right place: complexity theory, psychoanalysis, and infant observation -- Endpiece