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Assessing change in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of children and adolescents: today's challenge, edited by John Tsiantis and Judith Trowell, London, Karnac, for the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 2010, 262 pp., £20.99, ISBN-13–978–1–85575–708–0
Following the publication of Child Psychotherapy and Research in 2009, edited by Midgley et al., this new publication by the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is a welcome contribution to a growing area. For anyone interested in, apprehensive about or undertaking research in child and adolescent psychotherapy, this is an excellent book. In the Series Editors' Preface, Lanyado and Houzel emphasise, ‘The absolute necessity of assessing the effectiveness of psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children and adolescents … .’ (p. xiii). This is elaborated in the Foreword by Widlocher who underlines the ‘political necessity’ (in relation to the commissioning of services), the ‘ethical necessity’ (in relation to patients and their families) and the ‘scientific necessity’ (in relation to our own understanding as practitioners) (p. xv). What follows is a series of chapters from different perspectives and different centres, all of which contribute to helping us consider the place of research in our work and different ways of evaluating its efficacy.
In reviewing the book, however, I found myself not reading sequentially, but ‘dipping in’, selecting different chapters as they captured my imagination. Interestingly, I was drawn initially to the last chapter by Euthymia Hibbs, ‘Ethical principles in conducting research with children and adolescents’.
This is an area that can raise anxieties for students and clinical researchers alike, faced with the daunting prospect of seeking ethical approval through national (IRAS) and local Ethics Committees. Hibbs begins with a quote from the Hippocratic Oath (460 BC) which highlights the fact that the issue of delivering health care ethically to patients has been