Reply to Dr. Pinneau.

Spitz, René A.

doi:10.1037/h0041575

Cited by 17 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…To quote: Affective interchange is paramount, not only for the development of emotion itself in infants, but also for the maturation and the development of the child…this affective interchange is provided by the reciprocity between the mother (or her substitute) and the child…depriving the child of this interchange is a serious, and in the extreme case, a dangerous handicap for its development in every sector of the personality. (Spitz, 1955, p. 454).…”

Section: Contributions Of Spitz To Current Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual meaning and increasing complexity: Contributions of Sigmund Freud and René Spitz to developmental psychology.

Emde¹

1992

Developmental Psychology

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Contributions of Sigmund Freud and Rene Spitz to developmental psychology are presented in terms of today's research. The work of each of these pioneers draws our attention to the need for increasing our knowledge about the meaning of individual experience and increasing complexity in the course of development. Freud's contribution to today's developmental thinking is reviewed in terms of his observations of play, his schematic perspectives on developmental processes, and his innovative theoretical approaches involving nonconscious mental activity in the context of constructivism. Spitz's contribution to today's thinking is reviewed according to a similar array of topics. These include his observational assessments of infants, his schematic perspectives on developmental processes, and his innovative theoretical approaches involving affective communications in the context of caregiving.This article highlights contributions of two psychoanalytic pioneers-Sigmund Freud and Rene Spitz (1887-1974)-to developmental psychology. Although more than a generation apart, their lives crossed in a way that left the younger man feeling a deep sense of intellectual continuity with the investigative spirit of his predecessor. Freud is known as the founder of psychoanalysis, but today's reader may find surprise in the extent to which his contributions frame a good deal of our contemporary developmental thinking. Spitz, closer to our time, applied Freud's approaches to observations and on-thespot experiments with infants. His contributions are more accessible to us, and, because they are more recent, they may be more difficult to evaluate in historical perspective. We concentrate mostly on Freud, therefore, and the contributions of Spitz are discussed in the concluding part of the article.Freudian insights having to do with play, a Darwinian approach to individual ontogeny, nonconscious mental activity, and constructivism are highlighted. Spitzian insights are highlighted having to do with the importance of infant observation and assessment, developmental transitions, and processes of affective communication will be highlighted. A theme of the article is that both contributors gave central importance to understanding individual meaning. Both also addressed the challenges of understanding increasing developmental complexity, although neither acknowledged the challenge in these terms. The latter consideration frames a portrayal of the limitations of the ideas of each from our contemporary perspective. A final

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Section: Contributions Of Spitz To Current Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual meaning and increasing complexity: Contributions of Sigmund Freud and René Spitz to developmental psychology.

Emde¹

1992

Developmental Psychology

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“…In fact, it has been questioned whether these and previous publications were based on any reliable observations at all (Pinneau, 1955a, 1955b; cf. Spitz, 1955).…”

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confidence: 99%

Research notes: John Bowlby’s critical evaluation of the work of René Spitz.

Horst¹,

Rosmalen²,

Veer³

2019

History of Psychology

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“…In the 1940s, using films that movingly showed infants' distress, René Spitz described infantile grief (anaclitic depression) and other forms of infantile suffering arising from emotional deprivation (Spitz, 1945, 1946a, 1946b). Nonetheless, the general implication of Spitz's work was subject to doubt and strong criticism for some time (see the controversy about the validity of his descriptions and disputes about developmental testing that were waged in Psychological Bulletin —Pinneau, 1955; Spitz, 1955—and the historical review of the controversy in Emde, 1983). The medical community's lack of recognition of child maltreatment until the 1960s (Helfer & Kempe, 1974) is another example of our reluctance to recognize young children's suffering.…”

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confidence: 99%

Developmentally sensitive diagnostic criteria for mental health disorders in early childhood: The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders—IV, the research diagnostic criteria—preschool age, and the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood—Revised.

Egger¹,

Emde²

2011

American Psychologist

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As the infant mental health field has turned its focus to the presentation, course and treatment of clinically significant mental health disorders, the need for reliable and valid criteria for identifying and assessing mental health symptoms and disorders in early childhood has become urgent. In this paper, we offer a critical perspective on diagnostic classification of mental health disorders in young children. We place the issue of early childhood diagnosis within the context of classification of psychopathology at other ages and describe, in some detail, diagnostic classifications that have been developed specifically for young children included DC:0-3, a diagnostic classification for mental health symptoms and disorders in infant, toddlers, and preschoolers. We will briefly outline the role of diagnostic classification in clinical assessment and treatment planning. Lastly, we will review the limitations of current approaches to the diagnostic classification of mental health disorders in young children.

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Reply to Dr. Pinneau.

Cited by 17 publications

References 12 publications

Individual meaning and increasing complexity: Contributions of Sigmund Freud and René Spitz to developmental psychology.

Individual meaning and increasing complexity: Contributions of Sigmund Freud and René Spitz to developmental psychology.

Research notes: John Bowlby’s critical evaluation of the work of René Spitz.

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