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This volume represents a skilfully condensed, comprehensive report of the conference on inpatient psychiatric treatment of children,
held in Washington October 17-21, 1956. The conference was divided into committees and several papers were contributed by outstanding authors in the field of child psychiatry. These contributions as well as discussions were used by the editors in the compilation of chapters on the history of the development of psychiatric inpatient services for children in the United States, on community settings, the plant and its cost, administration and personnel, treatment programs, research, and ways to estimate the needs of the community. The editors succeeded in couching the material in such terms that it can be used effectively by organizations and agencies contemplating the establishment of inpatient treatment centers for emotionally disturbed children.
For the psychoanalyst the most interesting chapters are those on personnel and research. Emphasis is placed on the need for selection and training of 'child-care workers'. Here one wonders why personal analysis and training in psychoanalytic centers, such as existed in Austria and Switzerland, were not considered. Various suggestions for research do not include problems entailed in the psychoanalysis of children in an inpatient setting. Apparently child analysis was not one of the therapeutic methods under discussion.
Several well-known child analysts participated in the conference (Gardner, Josselyn, Mahler, Mohr, Ross, and others). This reviewer looks forward to further publications, geared to the interest of the child analyst, and delving into such problems as, for example, motivations for becoming a child-care worker, or how does the absence of parents affect the transference reactions during child analysis?.