Many problems of children's development have their “roots” in the earlier age periods of babies: in early childhood or the prenatal period. Therefore, in psychoanalysis, which is designed to establish the causes of a particular pathology of a child’s development, a retrospective analysis is used: an anamnesis is collected, the family situation preceding the present is analyzed, and the relationship between the emotional attitude of parents to the newborn child and the current development rate is established.
In the period of intrauterine development, as well as in the first half of life, the child receives the emotional and social attitudes of the parents, which they learn at the level of reflection. French psychoanalysts F. Dolto and C. Elyacheff are sure that the problems of the child that arise in his first nine months of life could be related to events that occurred with the mother during the same periods of pregnancy. A retrospective analysis of the mother’s pregnancy helps to establish this event, analyze and understand the emotions that she felt in this situation for the child, and also find a connection with the new development situation.
A child in a woman who, at the fifth month of pregnancy, had suicidal intentions, may suddenly become ill in four to five months of her life. Moreover, his disease can be acute, threatening the baby's life. The same authors, using their own practice as an example, proved that it is possible to successfully work with such situations and change the direction of development. For this, psychoanalysts recommend talking with the child, telling him the truth about that event and showing how to avoid problems. The conversation is held with a child of any age: with a baby or with a preschooler. The purpose of such conversations is not the child’s awareness of the cause of his problems, but a change of attitude towards further development.
In psychology, a retrospective analysis is a look into the child’s past, a search for conditions and situations that have become a “trigger” for the development of undesirable traits of a child’s character or, conversely, contributed to a halt in development. Z. Freud, working with adults, was looking for the cause of their problems in relationships in the characteristics of children's development. The psychoanalyst conducted a retrospective analysis of the patient’s recollections, talking daily with the person being studied, until the cause of his illness or problem became clear.
A child psychoanalyst uses the data provided by his parents, not the child. The child himself cannot determine the beginning of his own problematic behavior, because he not only does not remember all the events of his childhood, but also does not realize the need to eliminate them. The baby successfully uses his pathological behavior as protective mechanisms, so he even resists when parents and a psychoanalyst try to fix the problem. So, a preschooler may need fights to defend against the anxious expectation that children in a group can attack him, offend, and pick up toys. Often a sick child can consider the disease as a blessing, because with its help he can spend more time at home with his parents. In order to understand what unconscious goal the child pursues, while holding on to his problem, it is necessary to conduct an analysis together with him. It is held in the office of a child analyst with the participation of parents.
Work with the youngest children who do not know how to draw, play and speak is carried out not just in the presence of their parents, but in close unity with them. Recollections of the period of pregnancy, the very first experiences about the child are the essence of the work. It is they who become the basis for elementary games of the child, who through his behavior demonstrates an attitude to the story of the parents. After a retrospective analysis has been carried out, the analyst encourages parents to independently search for solutions to overcome problems, to change attitudes towards the child. Important for all participants in the process is the intention to get away from the experiences of the past, to form a new perception, taking into account the current situation.