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This is a collection of some two dozen papers by different authors, brought together
under the theme of psychotherapeutic work with children, young people and their families. Most of the contributors are child psychotherapists writing about areas of particular interest and expertise, which range from the detailed work of infant-observation, through mother-child work and adolescence, to the work done by Isobel Menzies-Lyth within the institute setting. There are contributions on autism by Frances Tustin, and on bereavement by Erna Furman; and an interesting chapter on infant sleep problems by Dilys Daws based on her work in a baby clinic in a general medical practice. In the Research Theory section of the book, I found the chapter by Mary Boston stimulating. She makes links between the fields of ‘objective’ psychological research into infant development and that of ‘subjective’ infant-observation — ‘the cognitive versus the affective’, and she discusses a great deal of recent research which is moving towards healing the split.
The contributions are generally easy to read and well illustrated by clinical material, and, although a basic familiarity with psychoanalytic thinking and theory is assumed, this should not pose a problem to the uninitiated but open-minded reader who may find his interest stirred by the wide-ranging and stimulating ideas touched upon. The choice of contributions managed to do this, while at the same time offering things of interest to the most experienced reader also, and should be of use across a wide range of audiences, thus living up to the book's title.