Jason Aronson Ferenczi's Language of Tenderness: Working with Disturbances from the Earliest Years

Sandor Ferenczi (1873-1933) was Freud's closest friend and colleague until he developed independent ideas. These ideas actually provide a better basis for psychotherapy and counselling in our day than do Freud's. Ferenczi is the forerunner of all relational work, and by his emphasis on working with the child present in the adult laid the foundation for a more human and respectful approach to therapy. The book gives a brief account of Ferenczi's life and work and shows how it preserves the essentials of psychoanalysis yet ushers in a new paradigm in the light of contemporary neuroscience and of modern understandings of child development and human relations. It takes note of the enormous difference which has been made by the opening up of work with people suffering from disturbances dating from the earliest years, thought by Freud to be impossible. It integrates work in these areas by both British and American practitioners, identifies the essentials that characterise psychoanalysis, and illustrates from the author's own practice extending over several decades how these essentials can be worked with in this more human manner. It does not avoid the challenge of how and if early unfulfilled needs such as those for human warmth and touch can be met. The book is unusually honest and open, and the language hopefully free from jargon. Its message is of relevance to all involved in psychodynamic work of whatever form; and also to all concerned with the care and upbringing of children and with human relations in general.