Selma Fraiberg
Selma Fraiberg (March 8, 1918 – December 19, 1981) was an American child psychoanalyst, author, and social worker who helped shape infant mental health. Born Selma Horowitz in Detroit, Michigan, she earned a master’s in social work from Wayne State University in 1940 and trained at the Detroit Psychoanalytic Institute. She married Louis Fraiberg in 1945 and they had a daughter, Lisa, in 1956. In 1979 the Fraibergs moved to San Francisco. Fraiberg taught and practiced for decades: she was a professor of psychoanalysis at the University of Michigan (1963–1979) and directed the Child Development Project in Washtenaw County. After moving to San Francisco, she directed an infant-parent program at San Francisco General Hospital.
Her research looked at how vision, especially blindness, affects infant development. One famous study of a blind infant named Toni showed that babies can smile in response to voices, not just faces, and that blindness influences how children learn to recognize themselves and others. Fraiberg described how blind babies rely on their mouths for information and how tactile perception helps them build a sense of self. She helped develop kitchen table therapy, bringing care into families’ homes. There are three main approaches: brief crisis intervention, developmental guidance–support treatment, and infant–parent psychotherapy—each used to support healthy development and attachment.
Fraiberg wrote influential books, including The Magic Years and Insights From the Blind, and she introduced ideas like evocative memory and “ghosts in the nursery,” the notion that parents’ unresolved issues can affect their children’s development. Her work helped found the field of infant mental health and continues to influence practice today.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:34 (CET).