Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development (Hardcover)

by Allan N. Schore (Author) "The understanding of early development is one of the fundamental objectives of science..." (more)
Key Phrases: tegmental limbic circuit, practicing critical period, socioaffective transactions, Van Eden, Journal of Comparative Neurology, Hughlings Jackson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Allan Schore reveals himself as a polymath, the depth and breadth of whose reading, bringing together neurobiology, developmental neurochemistry, behavioral neurology, evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis and infant psychiatry, is staggering. This is a superb work, an excellent source book for psychiatrists wishing to locate their work within the much broader study of the mind. It might also form the basis of what could be an enormously creative dialogue between neurobiology and psychoanalysis.
—British Journal of Psychiatry

Allan Schore['s]...work is leading to an integrated evidence-based dynamic theory of human development that will engender a rapprochment between psychiatry and neural sciences.
—American Journal of Psychiatry

Schore's...model explicates in exemplary detail the precise mechanisms by which the infant brain might internalize and structuralize the affect-regulating functions of the mother, in circumscribed neural tissues, at specifiable points in its epigenetic history....I unreservedly recommend this uniquely informative book to psychoanalytic readers.
—Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

In this extensively researched (over 2,300 references) and cogently argued text, Allen N. Schore provides a major contribution to the study of the relationship between the neurological processes and structures of the brain and the socioaffective and object representational phenomena that we generally associate with the mind. Schore's approach is an outstanding example of the genre of studies seeking to demonstrate neurological isomorphisms for the kind of mental or psychic states that have been postulated by psychoanalytic theory.
—Psychoanalytic Quarterly

For those who read this book, the study of human development will be entirely transformed....Not only is this book destined to be an authoritative reference for those who work with infants and children, but it also promises to radically restructure many of our current paradigms of infant/child development and care....it is perhaps the first comprehensive source to emotional development. Its scholarship is indeed impressive. Its integration and conclusions are insightful.
—Contemporary Education

Allan Schore's Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self is a brilliant, if not awesome, synthesis with supporting data from a spectrum of many disparate sources, including anatomic, developmental, neurochemical, and psychodynamic. He has developed a coherent and integrated neuropsychological model of the location, development, and mechanism of the self.

—International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine

...this is a superb integrative work, an excellent source book and required reading for any psychiatrists wishing to locate their work within the much broader study of mind.
—The British Journal of Psychiatry

In this remarkable and unique integrative contribution on socioaffective ontogeny, Dr. Schore has assembled an incredible array of data that spans virtually the length and breadth of modern science, including neurobiology, developmental neurochemistry, behavioral neurology, evolutionary biology, sociobiology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis, and infant psychiatry. His aim in this work is to construct an interdisciplinary model for the attainment of optimum integration from all these disciplines so that we see a more transcendent picture of the emerging human infant as a neurobiological-social-emotional self. I believe that he has achieved his aim and, in so doing, he has lifted our neurobiological 'hardware' into a unique costarring role with our mental (cognitive/affective) software and has highlighted how our neurons become key players in the formation of our personalities. We can almost now see brain and mind in a paradoxically discontinuously continuous Möbius strip connection....a pioneering work that holds considerable promise for everyone in the behavioral sciences. It fundamentally alters our traditional, fundamentalistic, cyclopean psychodynamic way of viewing infants and patients and dramatically informs a newer and much needed interdisciplinary perspective.

—James S. Grotstein, M.D.
University of California at Los Angeles Medical School, From the Foreword

Unlike most scientists, Dr. Schore takes his inspiration from the interfaces between disciplines. In this book, he makes a heroic effort to link the worlds of the cell, the brain, behavior, and inferred emotional states through their common participation in regulatory processes at work within the early relationship of the child and its parents. He offers both original ideas and an exceptionally broad survey of recent research in all these areas.
—Myron A. Hofer
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University

...a remarkable feat of scholarship and a very important contribution to the neurobiology of emotional development. I like your pattern of reviewing and discussing the psychological and social side of development, followed usually by a chapter that looks at the neurobiology. This truly offers the integration that you were seeking, and I congratulate you for what you have done.
—Richard S. Lazarus
University of California, Berkeley

a superb book....I am sure to refer to it repeatedly and will continue to rely on the references.
—Karl H. Pribram
Radnor University

Psychoanalytic theory and brain maturation: the most detailed discussion of the early years and the emotional consequences of brain development is Allan Schore, Affect Regulation and the Origin of Self.

Allan Schore reveals himself as a polymath, the depth and breadth of whose reading, bringing together neurobiology, developmental neurochemistry, behavioral neurology, evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis and infant psychiatry, is staggering. This is a superb work, an excellent source book for psychiatrists wishing to locate their work within the much broader study of the mind. It might also form the basis of what could be an enormously creative dialogue between neurobiology and psychoanalysis.
—British Journal of Psychiatry

Allan Schore[s]...work is leading to an integrated evidence-based dynamic theory of human development that will engender a rapprochment between psychiatry and neural sciences.
—American Journal of Psychiatry

Schores...model explicates in exemplary detail the precise mechanisms by which the infant brain might internalize and structuralize the affect-regulating functions of the mother, in circumscribed neural tissues, at specifiable points in its epigenetic history....I unreservedly recommend this uniquely informative book to psychoanalytic readers.
—Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

In this extensively researched (over 2,300 references) and cogently argued text, Allen N. Schore provides a major contribution to the study of the relationship between the neurological processes and structures of the brain and the socioaffective and object representational phenomena that we generally associate with the mind. Schores approach is an outstanding example of the genre of studies seeking to demonstrate neurological isomorphisms for the kind of mental or psychic states that have been postulated by psychoanalytic theory.
—Psychoanalytic Quarterly

For those who read this book, the study of human development will be entirely transformed....Not only is this book destined to be an authoritative reference for those who work with infants and children, but it also promises to radically restructure many of our current paradigms of infant/child development and care....it is perhaps the first comprehensive source to emotional development. Its scholarship is indeed impressive. Its integration and conclusions are insightful.
—Contemporary Education

Allan Schores Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self is a brilliant, if not awesome, synthesis with supporting data from a spectrum of many disparate sources, including anatomic, developmental, neurochemical, and psychodynamic. He has developed a coherent and integrated neuropsychological model of the location, development, and mechanism of the self.

—International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine

...this is a superb integrative work, an excellent source book and required reading for any psychiatrists wishing to locate their work within the much broader study of mind.
—The British Journal of Psychiatry

In this remarkable and unique integrative contribution on socioaffective ontogeny, Dr. Schore has assembled an incredible array of data that spans virtually the length and breadth of modern science, including neurobiology, developmental neurochemistry, behavioral neurology, evolutionary biology, sociobiology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis, and infant psychiatry. His aim in this work is to construct an interdisciplinary model for the attainment of optimum integration from all these disciplines so that we see a more transcendent picture of the emerging human infant as a neurobiological-social-emotional self. I believe that he has achieved his aim and, in so doing, he has lifted our neurobiological hardware into a unique costarring role with our mental (cognitive/affective) software and has highlighted how our neurons become key players in the formation of our personalities. We can almost now see brain and mind in a paradoxically discontinuously continuous Möbius strip connection....a pioneering work that holds considerable promise for everyone in the behavioral sciences. It fundamentally alters our traditional, fundamentalistic, cyclopean psychodynamic way of viewing infants and patients and dramatically informs a newer and much needed interdisciplinary perspective.

—James S. Grotstein, M.D.
University of California at Los Angeles Medical School, From the Foreword

Unlike most scientists, Dr. Schore takes his inspiration from the interfaces between disciplines. In this book, he makes a heroic effort to link the worlds of the cell, the brain, behavior, and inferred emotional states through their common participation in regulatory processes at work within the early relationship of the child and its parents. He offers both original ideas and an exceptionally broad survey of recent research in all these areas.
—Myron A. Hofer
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University

...a remarkable feat of scholarship and a very important contribution to the neurobiology of emotional development. I like your pattern of reviewing and discussing the psychological and social side of development, followed usually by a chapter that looks at the neurobiology. This truly offers the integration that you were seeking, and I congratulate you for what you have done.
—Richard S. Lazarus
University of California, Berkeley

a superb book....I am sure to refer to it repeatedly and will continue to rely on the references.
—Karl H. Pribram
Radnor University

Psychoanalytic theory and brain maturation: the most detailed discussion of the early years and the emotional consequences of brain development is Allan Schore, Affect Regulation and the Origin of Self.

Product Description
The main purpose of this monograph is to bring together in one place the lastest observations, data, and concepts from the developmental branches of psychoanalysis and neurobiology. For researchers and students in both disciplines.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 736 pages
• Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1 edition (April 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805813969
• ISBN-13: 978-0805813968
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,057,354 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Often Recommended, June 8, 2001

By	Robert Kall "Rob Kall of Opednews.com" (Newtown, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development (Paperback)

The mother influences the child's growth and development. That's pretty obvious. This book goes to the neurobiological underpinnings of this phenomenon, referring to several thousand studies, to show how the connection between mother and child actual influences the way the child's brain develops. It is a treasure trove of information on how the prefrontal cortex matures through interaction with the mother in the early stages of life.

As organizer of The Futurehealth Winter Brain Meeting, I have repeatedly recommended this book to colleagues who have an interest in frontal lobes, to attachment disorder, to the links between the brain and self control, violence in the schools, and even, in a recent on-line listserve discussion with a former president of APA, who suggested that first come values and then positive emotions. This books strongly suggests that first come positive emotions and experiences and these lead to establishment of a brain w hich is responsible and well regulated. This is no light read. But Schore is worth it. He's brilliant.

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptionally thorough, well written study, December 31, 1999

By	Michael Strassberg (Hamilton Square, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

I found this book exceptionally engaging and fascinating. I have read much about the development of affective, cognitive, psycho-sexual, self and gender development, and wanted to learn more about the physiological and anatomical correlates to the observable behaviors in babies and children, and this book was 100% satisfying. The author painstakingly discusses Bowlby, Ainsworth, Spitz and other attachment theorists, providing the essential facts of affective and attachment development, and then in a very clear, understandable way, provides the neuroanatomic and neurochemical explanations of the observed phenomena. The book is intensively researched, and the ideas are developed in a sequential, logical and easy-to-follow manner. I recommend reading Robert Karen's book "Becoming Attached" first, to truly understand Schore's book.