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The ground covered by the panel discussants was rather extensive and dealt with the chosen topic as it related to the child, the parents, and the therapist. All agreed on the importance of diagnostic considerations.
Lydia G. Dawes, in her opening presentation entitled "The Goals of Child Analysis As Compared with the Goals of Child Psychotherapy," drew a parallel between the results of the misuse of psychoanalytic concepts in the field of child rearing and the misuse of such concepts in the treatment of children. Misunderstanding and confusion have been caused by not distinguishing clearly between psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. She suggested, as a first step toward making decisions as to treatment, the careful study of the whole child to estimate the extent and nature of the trouble. On the basis of this, it may be found that the problem is one of physical damage or social pathology, in which case some form of treatment other than analysis or psychotherapy would be indicated. If it is determined that the difficulty lies in the mental life of the child, then either analysis or psychotherapy would be indicated. She then described psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy as a goal-limited, manipulative, focused type of therapy which aims at the solution of immediate and specific conflicts. It utilizes reeducation of parent and child, active use of the environment and direct participation by the therapist as teacher and friend. This type of treatment would be indicated when the child's symptoms are largely the result of external pressures.
Child psychoanalysis has the same goal as that of adult analysis—that is, to uncover and resolve unconscious conflicts and to free the energy so bound. "Only in child analysis is the genetic investigation and interpretation of unconscious fantasies carried out together with the analysis of ego defenses" and transference, as was added by other contributors.
In her discussion of Dawes's paper, Lucie