High Intensity Children: On the Physicality of Temperament and Its Implications for Child Psychoanalytic Treatment

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, I am extending my exploration of “kinetic temperament” and its implications for psychoanalytic theory and practice in the context of current understanding of temperament in psychoanalytic theory. My focus here is on two high-intensity children and their mothers. I also draw on my experience of parents and children at the Pace University Parent-Infant-Toddler Research Nursery in order to consider educational as well as treatment questions that arise in treating children and their parents when clashing and matching kinetic temperaments are an issue.