Routledge The Enigma of Childhood: The Profound Impact of the First Years of Life on Adults as Couples and Parents

In this book the author traces the way that early psychic development from birth up to three years is reflected throughout our lifespan, including adulthood, couplehood and parenthood. The inner child reverberating within us (consciously and unconsciously) and thus present in our ongoing interactions with others, often colours and guides our current experiences, whether with our life partner or children, and as psychotherapists, with our patients. Our openness to its resonance allows us to become more attuned to and emotionally accessible to ourselves and others. The author's primary aim is to familiarize the reader with her innovative idea of the emotional immune system managed by a healthy narcissism and operating via the inner reverberations of hidden childhood narratives. Our sense of familiar self is accordingly consolidated and immunised to an invasion by foreign sensations. Review " The Enigma of Childhood is a profound and fascinating journey into the depths of the child's psyche, the course of his emotional and personality development, and the formative relationships that touch us all. A warm and heartening book."--Amos Oz, novelist, journalist, and professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University, Israel "Enriched by contemporary neurobiological findings, Solan elaborates the deepest conceptualisation of the several narcissistic dimensions that enable ego development and the maintenance of jointness-separateness - emphasizing especially the narcissistic envelope and autoimmune functions and the 'befriending' of otherness - and their role in balancing the inherent stresses of object relationships; all crucial for understanding child development, couples in relation, and the interpretive process."--Moshe Halevi Spero, PhD, Professor and Director, The Postgraduate Program of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, School of Social Work "Readers of this book will benefit from Ronnie Solan's journey in and out of many doors. She has taken on the difficult task of attempting a synthesis of the classical structures of psychoanalytic and object relations theory with multiple other theoretical systems. This book will challenge you as it gives you new information about what each partner brings to their intimate relationships."--Vernon C. Kelly, Jr., MD, Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus About the Author Ronnie Solan