Reflections on the Work of Professor Selma Fraiberg |
| |
Authors: | Vivian Shapiro |
| |
Institution: | (1) Social Work, Private Practice, 10 Campbelton Circle, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA |
| |
Abstract: | This paper reviews the work of Professor Selma Fraiberg who became a leading figure in the field of infant mental health.
Born in 1918 she first received an MSW in Social Work and then undertook her Analytic Training in Detroit Michigan. While
she maintained her identity as a social worker throughout her life, she integrated insights from the fields of social work,
psychoanalysis and developmental and ego psychology in her research and practice. This paper traces her development as a clinician,
researcher, and educator. Three cases describe her ability to integrate social work methodologies with analytic insights.
The cases describe the treatment of a latency age child at a time of social change, a clinical research study of the developmental
risk of children blind from birth, and a groundbreaking study in the field of infant mental health. Her study of infants at
developmental risk focused on the parent /infant relationship and parents were included in the treatment process so that they
could become more attuned to their young child. Her work highlighted the intergenerational issues that shaped the parental
capacity for empathic nurturance between parent and child. The article Ghosts in the Nursery incorporated the major theoretical concepts of the new theoretical approach to treatment and is still much read in graduate
programs today. Although extensive new research has added to the field of infant mental health, her contributions are still
relevant to research and practice today. |
| |
Keywords: | Infant Mental health Research Treatment models |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|