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My aim in this short paper is to define the position of psycho-analysis amongst the various forms of psychotherapeutic treatment of children and to say something of the purpose and method of the training of child analysts by the Institute of Psycho-Analysis.
During the last twenty years doctors and educationalists have been slowly but progressively turning to the study of child psychology to find the solution of some of their unsolved problems.
The last world war, on account of the large numbers of shell-shocked soldiers, gave an impetus to the practice of all kinds of psychotherapy which were influenced by the formulation and development of Freud's theory and technique of Psycho-Analysis. The present war has hastened the necessity for the organization and extension of the study and practice of psychological medicine in relation to the child, because evacuation and the mobilization of women have created urgent and obvious psychological problems for the child. These problems do not concern the medical profession only (as the previous speakers have pointed out) but are also of vital importance to the educational and nursing professions, and, owing to the fact that the child is absolutely dependent on its environment, those interested in social problems are also involved.
In my opinion one of the most complex issues both in respect of training and in the organization of practical therapy is the overlapping of professional interests. There must be co-operation and at the same time clearly defined aims and methods if progress is to be rapid.
The Institute of Psycho-Analysis, which I am representing, has the advantage of being able to define the scope of the training offered because it limits its activities to the teaching and practice of psycho-analysis.
From the point of view of psychiatry child analysis offers the opportunity, apart from therapy, for research into the early phases of conditions recognizable later as psychoses and psychoneuroses. From the point of view o