A Handbook of Child Psychoanalysis. Gerald H. J. Pearson (Ed.). New York:  Basic Books, 1968.  x + 384 pp.

This is a particularly valuable book for those interested in becoming child psychoanalysts. Pearson and his collaborators present in lucid and detailed form the technique involved in interviews with parents, diagnostic interviews with the child, and criteria for the selection of

cases suitable for treatment. Most important for the student, this book contains detailed descriptions of actual sessions throughout the treatment process. Thus the interactions between patient and analyst in a latency case and in an adolescent are presented and the differences in the handling of each are indicated.

The authors stress the need for familiarity with normal children and for an understanding of the manner in which children of different ages feel and think. The principles of Anna Freud and an ego-psychological orientation are apparent throughout the discussion of various topics. The beginning analyst will find especially helpful discussions of differences in the nature and technique of handling transference, resistance and termination in children and adults.

This reviewer would like to wholeheartedly endorse Pearson's belief that a thorough understanding and knowledge of children also makes for better analysis of adults.