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Charles Sarnoff is an acknowledged authority on the study of latency. The present book, a further valuable contribution to an area which has not been adequately explored, expands on the author's earlier work which dealt with the use of fantasy as a defense in latency.
Latency children are afraid, says the author, to permit expression of their sexual and aggressive feelings which might enrage their very much needed parents and other authority figures. Elaborate fantasies serve as substitutes for action or as defenses against it. The therapist's task, therefore, is to help the patient explore latent and suppressed fantasies.
Sarnoff's conceptualization of the structure of latency dictates the recommended technique. In one typical example, instead of concerning himself with the present complaint and its origin, he ascribes a latency child's problem to inadequate symbol formation and suggests methods of enriching the patient's fantasy life. In another instance he attributes failure to enter latency to a repressed symbolizing function and suggests therapeutic stratagems to allow the development of fantasy to proceed appropriately.
A minor criticism: No distinction is made between dynamically oriented psychotherapy and analysis. Since the approach described here might best be termed therapeutic, it is to be hoped that in future contributions Sarnoff will extend his exploration into the psychoanalytic treatment of latency children and will include phenomena of transference and countertransference encountered in an analysis conducted at this developmental state.
This book is a valuable aid in the understanding of latency. It is highly recommended to therapists and for use in seminars on child development.