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The title of this book is a reference to the developing discipline of Integrative Child Psychotherapy (ICPT), and this book is in some ways a celebration of the development of the Integrated Child Psychotherapy four year training at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education. This draws its roots from a distinct branch of child psychotherapy, developed by Margaret Lowenfeld in the 1930s. In tune with Anna Freud, the approach champions the importance of remaining grounded in the social, educational and community context.
For those unfamiliar with this discipline, the integrative approach brings together a psychoanalytic and psychodynamic understanding, alongside the importance of art, play and creativity, an attachment informed practice, and a consideration of current neurodevelopmental theory and research, including how early developmental environmental experiences and trauma impact both brain and body development. These key strands have been used to inform clinical practice when working therapeutically with children.
Crucially, ICPT acknowledges how all the above can influence communication at both the conscious and unconscious levels, and play out in terms of bodily transference and counter-transference experiences. Alongside this, contemporary child psychotherapy makes use of art and metaphor as ways of communicating therapeutically with the child, using displacement techniques to gently engage both defences and underlying anxiety, and making use of stories and narratives to explore, sometimes more safely, the child’s emotional concerns and difficulties.
The strength of the integrative therapeutic approach lies in its flexibility; it makes use of different theories and therapeutic approaches to understand the child’s world and experience from multiple perspectives and modes. At its best, ICPT manages to be
a creative, fluid model, and there are several chapters in this book which exemplify this model. It offers something useful for Child and Adolescent Psych