Book description
During her lifetime Francoise Dolto revolutionized the psychoanalytic
understanding of childhood. As an early pioneer, she emphasized that the
child is to be recognized from birth as a person. As a gifted and
innovative clinician, Dolto developed her ideas about the unconscious
image of the body. An image that is unique to each individual and linked
to both a person's history and narcissism, rather then their
physicality. It is the symbolic incarnation of a person's desires. Dolto
began her career as a member of the IPA, was admired by Winnicott, close
to Lacan and influenced by Morgenstern. Her life witnessed an
extraordinary evolution from the conservatism of her parents, through
the second World War, to the turbulence of Paris in the 1950s and 60s.
In the succeeding years, Dolto made a number of original contributions
to the understanding of psychosis, neonatology, female sexuality,
education, and religion. Although controversial, she was able to write
both for the general public and for professional colleagues. In 1979
Dolto opened La Maison Verte as a specialist centre for the practical
application of her theories. Similar centres have since been created
around the world. Dolto continued to write and teach until her death in
1988.
