Part III, Some Clinical Implications, Chapter 10, Some Implications for the Theories Behind Therapeutic Reconstructions Summary and Analysis

Chapter 10 focuses on the developmental theories therapists use that influence has a reconstructed "clinical infant" is generated. Stern will use information about the "observed infant" and the development of domains of self to examine this process. Stern cautions that the comparison may not reveal anything definitive.

Fredu believed that in the first few months of life infants had a "protective shield against stimuli" to allow development. However, it appears that infants have optimal levels of stimulation that they will seek and other levels it will avoid. The only barrier comes with the levels of stimulation that are tolerated. Infants have the same active regulatory traffic with the external world as does anyone at any age...