Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Developmental Psychopathology

Psychoanalysis, for better or worse, has exerted considerable influence on developmental psychopathology. This chapter provides a historical overview of the psychoanalytic approach, taking a dual developmental perspective. It outlines the emergence of analytic ideas and the changing assumptions and emphases of the key perspectives between Anna Freud's original discoveries and the present day. Margaret Mahler's separation- individuation processes and Joseph Sandler's object relations theory are then discussed as critical contributions to the psychoanalytic developmental theory. All three psychoanalysts started from the basis of the structural approach, but ended up modifying the structural tradition in various ways. In offering this historical overview, it emphasizes the contribution that psychoanalytic ideas can make to a developmental understanding of the emergence of psychological disturbance. The chapter critically appraises as well as highlights the contribution of the approaches considered and evaluates them wherever possible in the context of pertinent empirical evidence.