The Injured Self: The Psychopathology and Psychotherapy of Developmental Deviations

“Dov and Malca Aleksandrowicz have achieved a major synthesis between effects of inborn deviant or delayed neuropsychological functions, on the one hand, and conflict derived determinants of psychosocial development and psychopathology, on the other. Their volume maps out carefully the manifestations of deviant sensory, motor, perceptive, affective and what might be called ‘effortful control’ functions, their impact on the caregiver–infant and parental–child interactions, and the methods for sorting out, in a careful and painstaking diagnostic process, how conflicts and deficits interact and influence each other. Abundant, sophisticated clinical material illustrates the application of this approach to the psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic treatment of these combined psychopathologies. The authors’ empathic discussion of the challenging work with both adults and troubled children and their parents should enrich the clinical expertise of all psychodynamic oriented psychotherapists, and expand the realm of contemporary psychoanalytic practice.” (Otto F. Kernberg, MD, Director)

"The Injured Self is the culmination of thirty-five years of scholarly research and builds upon the work of such well-known authorities in the field of infant development as T. Berry Brazelton, Bertrand G. Cramer, Joy D. Osofsky, Daniel Stern, and the earlier work of the Aleksandrowiczs themselves. With exquisite sensitivity, it reminds us of the vulnerability of the infant and of the intransigence of injuries to the self sustained at this time. While written primarily for practitioners in the mental health field, it will serve as an invaluable reference for all parents, teachers, and practitioners in related fields.” (Sylvia Levine Ginsparg, PhD, Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics)

“This book spans the prejudiced gap between body, mind, and psyche by focusing on developmental deviations and their impact from a combined psychoanalytic, neuropsychological, and developmental perspective. It is a highly informative, richly presented, and integrative effort at understanding the impact of such deviations on self, parents, family, and social constellations. It combines psychoanalytic insight with developmental findings, and offers guidelines for parents, educators, and therapists, who must recognize early limitations and cope with them. It is an invaluable asset for all those charged with caring for the growth and adjustment of infants and youngsters who suffer from these often insufficiently understood causes.” (H. Shmuel Erlich, Sigmund Freud Professor of Psychoanalysis (Emeritus) and former Director)

Malca K. Aleksandrowicz