A discussion paper by Ellen Toronto, Ph.D. was added to the The Michigan Psychoanalytic Council site today. Here is a description of the file:
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Theoretical development and clinical experience over the past 20 years have come increasingly to recognize a group of pathologies whose onset occurs in the early developmental period of the child, before language and before significant structural differentiation has taken place. These pathologies, involving developmental arrests and deficits in the core structure of the self, have necessitated a revision or certainly an extension of classical theory and technique. We have come to recognize that crucial reparative work must frequently be done and that this work must take place within the contest of a relationship which provides the kind of empathic attunement that was missing in the original mother/infant experience.
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