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Hoxter's paper, titled ‘The experience of puberty’ (1964), provides a comprehensive account of the tumultuous transition from childhood to adulthood. The detailed clinical vignettes clearly demonstrate the depth and complexity of each patient's experience of puberty, and their phantasies and feelings towards their developing sexuality. There is an abundance of themes within the paper which could be thought about in greater detail. However, for the purpose of this commentary, I will focus on some of the therapeutic techniques Hoxter utilises within her work with adolescents, with a particular focus on working with the transference. I will also consider how this relates to my experience as a trainee child and adolescent psychotherapist.
Despite working in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) for many years prior to embarking on my psychoanalytic journey, working in the transference has been a new experience. Transference takes place within the emotional relationship between the patient and therapist and is a central concept of psychoanalysis. It is a process of communication whereby the patient's psychic world is re-experienced and relived in the present (Klein, 1952; Spillius, 1988). Working in the transference enables the therapist to respond to and interpret the emotional immediacy of the patient, and to make containing interpretations within the therapeutic relationship. Through clinical work within my role as a trainee child psychotherapist and through working with my analyst, I have experienced first-hand the profoundness of interpretations made in the transference. From these experiences, I have developed a deep appreciation of how fundamental working in the transference is for the therapeutic relationship, and for the progression of the clinical work.
However, as a trainee, I have found it quite challenging at times to remain working in the transference. In reference to this difficulty, I found Hoxter's discussions regarding her use of the transfe