Anni Bergman is among a cadre of child analysts who entered into the field after many years of educational work with children. Before her training in child therapy, she taught music, directed a school orchestra, and co-authored a book on how to teach very young children to play the recorder. Her psychoanalytic work, spanning more than two decades, considers abnormal processes within the context of typical developmental patterns.

Karen Roser (KR), a doctoral candidate and beginning student of psychoanalysis, interviewed her former teacher of play therapy and supervisor at the City University Child Center to gather insights into the past and present of child analytic work and some intimate details of her association with Margaret Mahler. Excerpts from the interview with Anni Bergman (AB) follow.