Normality and Pathology in Childhood

Author: Anna FreudPublisher: RoutledgePaperback:ISBN 10: 0946439656ISBN 13: 978-0946439652Hardcover:ISBN 10: 0367099667ISBN 13: 978-0367099664The author's book deals with a most neglected aspect of psychoanalysis - normality. Its chief concern is with the ordinary problems of upbringing which face all parents and the usual phenomena encountered by every clinician. Yet, though primarily practical and clinical in its approach, it also makes a major theoretical contribution to psychology. The author begins with an account of the development of analytic child psychology, its techniques and its sources in child and adult analysis and direct observation of the child. The author then describes the course of normal development, how it can be hindered or eased, what are the unavoidable stresses and strains and how variations of normality occur. The author outlines a scheme for assessing normality and for gauging and classifying pathological phenomena in terms of the obstruction of normal progre