Esther Bick

Esther Bick, née Esteza Lifsza Wander (1902–1983), born in Przemyśl, Poland (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), was a child psychoanalyst who had a profound influence on the development of child psychotherapy in England. She is known for developing the method of psychoanalytic infant observation. Her discovery of the potential of infant observation undertaken within the home over the first year or two of life to underpin the growth of a psychoanalytic perspective within the observer was a conceptual innovation in the history of child psychiatry. It has since become an essential feature of pre-clinical training in child and adult psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and related fields throughout the world.