Throughout this book Dr Brafman acknowledges his debt to the work of Winnicott as he shows how effective brief diagnostic therapeutic interventions can be in helping children with emotional difficulties. Brafman uses many of Winnicott's techniques, but with a difference. He focuses on the interaction of the parent and child in his consultations in ways that Winnicott did not. He takes into account the parental situation as well as that of the child in his assessments. He tries, often with considerable success, to untie the ‘knot’ that he sees binding child and parent—a ‘knot’ that is detrimental to the development of the child, and a factor that has led to the symptoms that have brought the patient—child pair to the consulting room in the first place. Brafman has found that in the cases where children can appreciate that someone listens and tries to understand their communications, and parents can change their approaches and attitudes to their children and their problems, the symptoms clear up.

In this book Brafman gives detailed descriptions