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A series of essays elucidating the nature and work of the child (and adolescent) psychotherapist, this book fills a long-standing need. As adult and child therapists we are periodically asked by various people—students, teachers, doctors, parents and others—about child psychotherapy, and we generally have limited time or ability to describe even a fraction of the activities and ideas involved. Now they can be referred to this work.
Its usefulness is not confined, however, to those in related professions, to those thinking of training in some school of child psychotherapy, or to parents of prospective patients. There is much in this book to stimulate the professional analyst or therapist, particularly as the papers delineate the broad spectrum of activities in which child psychotherapists now engage, both within and beyond the ken of many analysts.
The frame of reference is psychoanalytic and is based on the child psychotherapy scene as it has developed in London, with the notable exceptions of the Jungian and the Lowenfeld groups. (The former was in its early days at the time this book was written; the latter has lately ceased to function.) The one Jungian author included, Jess Guthrie, is, as a founder member of the Association of Child Psychotherapists, a natural choice to present a picture of Jungian child analytic therapy. The other authors, also on the whole quite senior and having much to say, represent the Tavistock and the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinics.
The structure of the book is well thought out; much has been done by the editors to offer a clear and systematic approach. The papers are relevant yet varied. They are ordered in a way which takes the reader from the general background and diversified activities of the child psychotherapist to the specifics of the one-to-one treatment interaction in the consulting room, and, finally, the specifics of the theoretical and training considerations. Each chapter is prefaced by a transitional editors' note which