Paul V. Trad – författare

My interest in writing this book was sparked several years ago when I serv ed as a psychiatric liaison on a pediatric unit of a major urban hospital. I was asked to assess a 7-year-old Hispanic boy who had been admitted to the hospital several days earlier with complaints of chronic abdominal pain. Comprehensive physical evaluations of the child had revealed no organic abnormality or disease process, and the pedia­ tricians assigned to the case had begun to suspect that the little boy's symptoma­ tology sternmed from an emotional problem. After meeting with the child for several sessions, I learned that his abdominal pains had persisted for approximately 3 years, preventing him from attending school on a regular basis or from engaging in other activities. A detailed elinical history revealed that roughly 4 years earlier, the child's mother had remarried and this stepfather had moved into the home. The child's comments with respeet to this man were highly ambivalent. Nor was the nature of these conflicting feelings apparent to me at the time. Several days later, however, when the child had been told the date of his discharge from the hospital, I was informed that his anxiety had increased dramatically.

Infant Previewing: Predicting and Sharing Interpersonal Outcome examines the developmental processes of the first two years of life from an innovative perspective that may dramatically alter the way health care professionals view and predict their perceptions of developmental phenomena. The volume introduces the concept of previewing, a developmental principle that organizes our understanding of how infants and caregivers share experience during the first few years of life. Previewing is manifested by virtually all caregivers and is designed to provide the caregiver-infant dyad with insight into imminent maturational trends and with the motivation for continuing on the development journey with a sense of mastery and control. The book not only launches the theory underlying the concept of previewing, but it also offers guidelines for using previewing to enhance the relationship between infant and caregiver. Various applications of previewing - as a means of fostering the infant''s predictive abilities, as a catalyst for differentiating and coordinating developmental functions, and as a principle for motivating interpersonal communication - are analyzed.

Infant Previewing: Predicting and Sharing Interpersonal Outcome examines the developmental processes of the first two years of life from an innovative perspective that may dramatically alter the way health care professionals view and predict their perceptions of developmental phenomena. The volume introduces the concept of previewing, a developmental principle that organizes our understanding of how infants and caregivers share experience during the first few years of life. Previewing is manifested by virtually all caregivers and is designed to provide the caregiver-infant dyad with insight into imminent maturational trends and with the motivation for continuing on the development journey with a sense of mastery and control. The book not only launches the theory underlying the concept of previewing, but it also offers guidelines for using previewing to enhance the relationship between infant and caregiver. Various applications of previewing - as a means of fostering the infant's predictive abilities, as a catalyst for differentiating and coordinating developmental functions, and as a principle for motivating interpersonal communication - are analyzed.

For me, the word "infant" has always had a strange and compelling fascination. This book, in essence, represents the first step of what I hope will be a long and fruitful journey into the mysteries of the infant psyche, with special emphasis on the phenomenon of early-life depressive symptomatology. From the outset of my medical training, I was particularly attracted to the field of psychiatry. As a resident exposed to adult patients in a psychiatric ward, I can vividly recall, even these many years later, the deep sense of poignancy and distress while in the presence of minds gone awry. It is my belief that psy­ chiatry, more than any other branch of medicine, presents the physician with the ultimate paradox-the elusive diagnosis. By this I mean that while the symp­ tomatology of psychiatry may be classified and analyzed, while diagnoses, prog­ noses, and treatment schedules can be devised, within psychiatry the unique configuration of each individual patient emerges with a clarity and distinction unparalleled in any other medical field. Before any psychiatric diagnosis can be formulated, the therapist must first delve deeply into the ultimate singularity of the patient. As a consequence, psychiatry is, in the final analysis, concerned with the dignity of each patient, and the psychiatrist is continually challenged to explore the most formidable and elaborate aspect of each person-the human mind. That said, I need to express the reasons for my dedication to child psychiatry.

For me, the word "infant" has always had a strange and compelling fascination. This book, in essence, represents the first step of what I hope will be a long and fruitful journey into the mysteries of the infant psyche, with special emphasis on the phenomenon of early-life depressive symptomatology. From the outset of my medical training, I was particularly attracted to the field of psychiatry. As a resident exposed to adult patients in a psychiatric ward, I can vividly recall, even these many years later, the deep sense of poignancy and distress while in the presence of minds gone awry. It is my belief that psy­ chiatry, more than any other branch of medicine, presents the physician with the ultimate paradox-the elusive diagnosis. By this I mean that while the symp­ tomatology of psychiatry may be classified and analyzed, while diagnoses, prog­ noses, and treatment schedules can be devised, within psychiatry the unique configuration of each individual patient emerges with a clarity and distinction unparalleled in any other medical field. Before any psychiatric diagnosis can be formulated, the therapist must first delve deeply into the ultimate singularity of the patient. As a consequence, psychiatry is, in the final analysis, concerned with the dignity of each patient, and the psychiatrist is continually challenged to explore the most formidable and elaborate aspect of each person-the human mind. That said, I need to express the reasons for my dedication to child psychiatry.