Editorial

The three papers in this issue illustrate the different methods whereby case material can be generated to elucidate emerging theories. The first paper uses the traditional psychoanalytic clinical method of describing in detail the treatment of a patient, using the author’s experience and observation to illustrate her ideas. In the second paper, whilst also describing a case in detail, the author uses more formal case study qualitative research methodology in which psychotherapy sessions and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the patient and were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed by thematic analysis. In the third paper, however, instead of using clinical material, the author introduces an intriguing twist by using the story of a fictional character, instead of a patient, to inform and develop key psychoanalytic concepts.

The first two papers in this issue offer psychoanalytic contributions to the understanding and treatment of individuals with learning disability (LD), who represent a neglected and vulnerable population within our society. Both papers focus on the deleterious role of trauma, drawing on the seminal work with people with learning disability of the psychoanalyst Valerie Sinason. She described how children who are pervasively exposed to trauma develop what she termed ‘secondary handicap’ – an unconscious lowering of their intelligence which develops as a defence against their perceived difference from others, and is superimposed on their primary handicap of information-processing impairment and adaptation that is diagnostic of LD (Sinason, 2010).

In ‘The disabling effects of trauma in a time of austerity: Implication for the practice and theory of child psychotherapy’, Tamsin Cottis describes her work as a child psychotherapist in London primary schools over the past decade with children identified as having special needs whose potential has been impeded due to their exposure to significant trauma. Drawing on the case studies of two chi