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This half-day panel under the leadership of Christel Airas, Convener, and Peter Blos Jr., Chair, was devoted to the presentation and discussion of clinical session material from the analyses of two children; a boy and girl aged 10 and 6 years, respectively. The focus throughout was on the analytic process: how each presenting analyst worked; the multiple levels of communication; transference-countertransference interchange; and the influence of theory on the day-to-day conduct of treatment.
The first case, Ned, was presented by Elizabeth Tuters. Ned was referred to her by his previous therapist, whom he had seen once weekly for one year, when he was 8 years old. This was disrupted by the parents. Poor grades and irresponsible behavior two years later precipitated a school crisis and, in turn, the start of analysis three times weekly. Ned has a brother who is two years older, and it was reported that the parents abruptly moved both boys to a school in the private system because his brother was being bullied. Ned felt lost and lonely. In his previous therapy Ned had disclosed that he had been bullied by his brother when his parents were out. They seemed unaware of Ned's poor visual-motor skills and perceived him as a ‘passive aggressive character’ who refused to learn. The school attempted to structure the situation through a signed contract.
The analysis began inauspiciously with Ned not arriving for his first two sessions because he became disoriented and lost in the course of a half-block walk to the office. A Monday appointment in month 7 of analysis and week 4 of school opens with Ned's announcement of fatigue and headache requiring that he recline on the couch. A brief interchange leads to Ned's defining himself as a ‘chicken-pecker’ with regard to his typing ability and stating that this has caused the headache. Avoiding further discussion he reports without affect that his older brother's bike had been stolen and was replaced by his parents the following day. Ne