Early relationships and the development of children

Abstract

One of the central issues in the field of infant mental health concerns the emergence of the self, in both robust and distorted forms. Various perspectives on when and how the self emerges have been proposed, with different investigators proposing a range of time tables and varying roles for innate capacities. Yet, all have agreed that, although a self cannot be proposed in the newborn, it somehow emerges as an organized structure in the early months or years of life. Moreover, there is agreement concerning a critical role for the caregiving matrix. Sander (e.g., 1975; 2000) proposed a most profound and compelling resolution of this paradoxical developmental emergent; namely, that the self is an outgrowth of the dyadic organization that preceded it. Sander allows a role for early emerging infant characteristics,which in dynamic systems terminology he describes as part of the “initiating conditions” of development. At the same time, he moves the spotlight to the nature and organization of early primary relationships; that is, the broader “system of which that individual is but a part” (Sander, 2000, p. 3). The organized self is a derivative of the organized complexity in which the infant participates, setting forth “enduring themes of organization” for personality development. Sander traces the process of this normative phenomenon and points the way to an understanding of early disturbance. At the turn of the century Freud, of course, had also stressed the importance of early relationships. However, he began with disturbance and worked backwards to normal development. Partly because of this, and partly because of the science of his times, he argued that there was inherent conflict in parent-child relationships, and he emphasized the negative drives and urges of the child. Healthy development, he thought, entailed minimizing frustration and curbing the negative impulses of children. In the relationships framework proposed by Sander, in contrast, the starting point is an understanding of normal development. Disturbance is seen as deviation, a derailment from typical pathways to be expected given reasonable supports for