SELECTED WRITINGS OF SELMA FRAIBERG

This collection of essays covers the key areas in the life work of the clinician and scientific pathfinder. Fraiberg had many exceptional qualities, not least among them a fluent and evocative writing style. Her research papers read like novels and her insights are touching and often inspired. Her clinical work, therapeutic approach and her exploration of new vistas in developmental research are well worth recalling. How do blind children develop without visual clues to help them? No one knew much about this until Fraiberg began the initial work. She and her associates couldn't get funding because they were not taken seriously and had to put up their own money. Courage, clarity and a desire to help eventually revealed the developmental process and led to useful techniques to help both the children and their parents. Teaching hostile, depressed teen-age mothers how to love their children was another moving study. One of Fraiberg's questions will haunt the reader: Why doesn't a mother hear her child's cries? Her discovery of the reason why is riveting and the treatment she devises eminently practical. The models she formulated for helping blind, handicapped, abused and endangered infants are impressive and have saved many lives over the years. Jargon-free, straightforward, dramatic and even beautiful, Fraiberg's essays can be enjoyed by any intelligent reader. She will surprise and astound those in her audience who are unfamiliar with her work. The authenticity of the writer and her caring make this book come alive.