Current issues in psychoanalytic child development

This paper addresses Anna Freud's propositions about the significance of the developmental point of view. Beyond the role of genetic reconstruction, the developmental dimension demands our investigation of developmental reorganization, which leads to new structures with new priorities and new hierarchies. This paper also attempts to explore the difficulties and resistances in the path that forwards the developmental point of view. References are made to object relations and intersubjectivity theories, which seem to give relatively little attention to the structure and the history of pathology. Moreover, we have outlined areas of development and maturation that need further investigation in order to achieve a better understanding of the complex evolvement of the mind.