Introductory Notes

The first two articles, by Bernfeld and myself, are intended for those who have no acquaintance with psychoanalysis. They were originally delivered as lectures to a group of school teachers in Europe, most of whom had no previous knowledge of the subject; and their purpose was to present in the simplest possible form the fundamental principles of the psychoanalytic theory of the child's development, with particular reference to the possibilities of application of this theory in the field of child training. Analysts, accordingly, must not be surprised to find, in their perusal of these two lectures, that they add nothing to their knowledge of psychoanalysis.

The work described in the two papers by Pörtl and Pensimus is a practical demonstration of the symbiosis indicated in the two preceding articles—of the relationship, that is, between analytic theory and practical educational work. The two authors are teachers in a public kindergarten who sought out the help of child analysts in their work with groups of problem children. The analysts were able to help them in understanding what lay behind the children's difficulties and in seeing wherein their troubles in school were related to conflicts arising in the home. The authors themselves were not analyzed. Our intention in presenting these two articles is to show how analytic knowledge may be used to widen the scope of constructive educational work and to give a new impetus to the teacher's endeavors. Work of the kind here described has nothing to do, however, with the treatment of neurotic symptoms or with the practice of child analysis.

The paper by Homburger brings the child analyst's point of view to bear upon the difficult question of sex enlightenment, and shows that the problem cannot always be solved by the simple process of imparting sex information.

The child analyses reported by Annie Angel and Editha Sterba were carried out in accordance with the technique used