Guest Editorial

Special Issue ‘The clinical relevance of research in child psychotherapy’

This edition of the journal represents a departure from the usual contents as it is a special collection of papers which were presented at the first Anna Freud Centre-Tavistock Clinic Research Conference which took place in 2002. The impetus for the conference and hence for this special issue was the growing awareness of the complementary and distinct ongoing research initiatives of the two institutions. Against the backdrop of external pressures and internal incentives to venture further into the world of ‘research,’ the time for sharing and discovering differing approaches was apt and presented the opportunity of a new beginning.

Perhaps it is obvious that we are all aware of the growing need to present to the world outside of child psychotherapy some sense of what we do and how it may be of help to children and families. However, it is hoped that this issue, and the growing number of research projects undertaken by child psychotherapists, will go further than just meeting this demand from the outside. Indeed, we may be much more successful at meeting this demand if we step outside our own frame of reference and embark on a collaborative effort.

Psychoanalytic theory and practice is a rich enterprise, which has found it difficult to express itself within a ‘research’ context. On the other hand, research such as can be found in developmental psychology is very rich in methodology but often leaves one with a sense of there being inadequate theoretical underpinnings with which to make sense of the empirical findings. A marriage between the two can indeed add up to more than what each could provide on their own. The burgeoning interest in qualitative methodologies suggests that both psychoanalytic thinking and empirical studies using analytic theories could be propelled to move into as yet uncharted fertile territories.

This issue represents a mix of the ongoing research work at both the Anna Freud