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A significant difference between child analysis and adult analysis is that a child does not bring himself to the analyst: he is brought by the parents for problems that he has usually not identified as such. The adult comes to the analysis prepared to cooperate if not exactly to work: difficulties in this realm may be resolved by thorough analysis of resistances, many of which group around the fantasy of the omnipotent analyst-parent. The child coming to analysis expects to be treated in the same way the family doctor or the teacher treats him. He cooperates by acquiescing to the parental demand and with the belief that the analyst will fulfill the wishes of the parents for the child's welfare. Though a child may be aware of his suffering and has complained to the parents, thereby alerting them to it, he rarely believes that he needs help from anyone other than the parent.
All of this is a prelude to the discussion of the point of this paper: the attitude of the child toward the work of the analysis and the technical opportunities and obstacles to creating and facilitating a work orientation as part of the “treatment alliance.” First, I shall