Albert Jay Solnit (August 26, 1919 – June 21, 2002) was an American

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...

in the tradition of

ego psychology Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model of the mind. An individual interacts with the external world as well as responds to internal forces. Many psychoanalysts use a theoretical c ...

He was an advocate of privileging children's needs in child custody cases. Solnit began teaching at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

in 1952 and was Sterling Professor of Psychiatry from 1970 to 1990. He was an editor of ''

The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child is an annual journal, published by Taylor & Francis, which contains scholarly articles on topics related to child psychiatry and psychoanalysis. The journal was founded in 1945 by Anna Freud, Heinz Hartmann, ...

'' from 1980 to 2002.L. W. Raymond ed., ''The Inward Eye'' (2013)

Thematic interests

Solnit saw play as a signature expression of the child's personality - something he linked to Winnicott's concept of the

transitional object A comfort object, more formally a transitional object or attachment object, is an item used to provide psychological comfort, especially in unusual or unique situations, or at bedtime for children. Among toddlers, a comfort object often takes th ...

. Solnit also emphasised the importance in an ongoing life of constructing "a useful and self-respecting past...a crucial aspect of the individual's sense of free will is a knowledge of his own history that does not dominate".Quoted in David Lowenthal, ''The Past is a Foreign Country'' (Cambridge 997) p. xxiv In a series of books co-authored with

Anna Freud Anna Freud CBE ( ; ; 3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father a ...

and legal scholar Joseph Goldstein, he stressed the importance of the psychological needs of the child in custody law.

Bibliography

Sole-authored works

*''Memory as Preparation: Development and Psychoanalytic Perspectives''. (1984) London: University College.

Co-authored volumes

*Senn MJE, Solnit AJ. ''Problems in child behavior and development'' (1970). Lea & Feibeger. *Goldstein J, Freud A, Solnit AJ. ''Beyond the best interests of the child''. Vol. 1. (1973) New York: Free Press. *Goldstein J, Freud A, Solnit AJ. ''Before the best interests of the child''. Vol. 2. (1979) New York: Free Press. *Goldstein J, Freud A, Solnit AJ, Goldstein S. ''In the best interests of the child''. Vol. 3. (1986) New York: Free Press. *Goldstein S, Solnit AJ. ''Divorce and your child: Practical suggestions for parents'' (1985) New Haven:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

. *Solnit AJ, Cohen DJ, Neubauer PB. ''The many meanings of play: A psychoanalytic perspective'' (1993) New Haven: Yale University Press. *Solnit AJ, Nordhaus B, Lord R. ''When home is no haven: Child placement issues'' (1994). New Haven: Yale University Press.

Edited volumes

*Solnit AJ, Neubauer PB, Abrams S, Dowling AS. ''The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child''

References

External links

Albert J. Solnit Papers (MS 1809).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Solnit, Albert J. 1919 births 2002 deaths American child psychiatrists American medical writers American male non-fiction writers Yale School of Medicine faculty Yale Sterling Professors 20th-century American male writers Members of the National Academy of Medicine