The primary purpose of this publication is to present a series of hypotheses relating to the differential status (outcome) at the end of treatment, and at two points following treatment, of children seen once a week as opposed to those seen four times a week. The hypotheses are derived from the results of a pilot study exploring the effect of frequency of treatment in psychoanalytic child therapy. Future publications will attempt to clarify the differences in the therapeutic process of the two groups.

Despite much clinical experience indicating the importance of the frequency with which a child is seen, there are few studies which explore the differential outcome of children seen at varying frequencies. Arthur (1952) deals mainly with process considerations, but does suggest that the less frequent treatment is not likely to