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This volume, which includes “Indications for Child Analysis” , contains Anna Freud's papers in the area of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic child psychology, those addressed to nonpsychoanalytic professional groups and lay audiences, various book prefaces, outlines, etc. The order of the papers is chronological and they are arranged by audiences to which they were addressed.
Though most of the articles in this volume are classics in the area with which they deal, and therefore most analysts are familiar with them, reading this collection nonetheless evokes a great sense of admiration. Anna Freud's breadth of experience, depth of understanding and knowledge, conveyed in a lucid and comprehensible style, are most impressive. There is an irresistible, subtle simplicity in the manner in which Anna Freud makes her most important points. It is this manner which gives her reader a feeling as if the material Anna Freud conveys has always been familiar to him, thus minimizing his resistance to the acceptance of her ideas.
Since Anna Freud's articles have received numerous reviews, I shall confine myself to brief observations on the three articles which have not been published in English before the appearance of this volume.
In “On Certain Difficulties in the Preadolescent's Relation to his Parents” , Anna Freud discusses the beginning of the reactivation of Oedipal instinctual conflicts, the “return of the repressed,” the defensive role of the family romance and the origins of the need to devaluate the parents. Unique in this contribution is the author's emphasis that the main roots of the conflict stem from the pre-Oedipal child-parent situation, namely the child's wish to “be big.” Further, in this phase of development, the child has the conviction that he can only achieve “bigness” by stepping into the parental role, thus the child's favorite game is one in which the roles of parent and child are