Editors' Introduction

We continue our survey of the clinical applications of psychoanalysis by focusing in this issue both on the oldest application, child analysis, and on the newest application, the involvement in therapy of infants and toddlers.

There are currently as many approaches to child therapy as there are to adult analysis. Each competing technique, or “school,” has its own representative cohort in the field of child work. We are fortunate in this issue to present vivid samples of these varied techniques and approaches.

Dr. L. Noah Shaw, one of our Editors, shares with us detailed clinical notes of his work with a young boy from ages 7 through 11. He gives us a beautiful example of “mainstream” or “ego psychological” child psychoanalysis at its best. His work is thoughtfully discussed by Drs. Fischer, Shengold, and Neubauer.

Dr. Joshua Perman takes the developmental point of view in his thoughtful consideration of a still controversial problem: the nature of transference in child psychoanalysis.

Dr. Eleanor Irwin uses both the object relations and the ego psychological perspectives in her discussion of the dramatic play of children in therapy. She presents a valuable historical view of the evolution of these perspectives. Her two clinical cases are vividly presented and, we are sure, will deeply affect the reader.

Ms. Maria da Cunha gives us three samples of her Kleinian approach to therapeutic work with troubled children in a city school system.

We conclude with a special section devoted to the work of Professor Rosine Debray with infants in the presence of their parents. Readers as yet unfamiliar with this exciting work will find this a most rewarding exploration.

Although several varying perspectives are presented, the thoughtful reader at the end of the issue will no doubt have realized that these approaches overlap considerably, and are now perhaps more