Relational Child Psychotherapy. Altman, N., Briggs, R., Frankel, J., Gensler, D. and Pantone, P. New York:  The Other Press, 2002,  410 Pages.

Altman, Briggs, Frankel, Gensler and Pantone's Relational Child Psychotherapy provides a comprehensive picture of psychotherapeutic work with children from a relational theoretical perspective. The book begins with a sketch of historical theoretical contributions to a relational orientation. This provides a conceptual base for discussion of development: parent, child, and the intermingling of each in the life of the other. Contextual influences, including cultural and socioeconomic factors, help us understand the complexity of development. Using the same relational lens, the authors discuss psychopathology in a child and family's life. The discussion then moves to the “treatment room,” beginning with assessment and planning. The use of play in therapy and play as a metaphor for all therapy creates a frame for important issues in child psychotherapy: initiating the therapy, transference and countertransference, the interaction of those visible and not in the therapy, and the use of countertransference in understanding stagnation in the therapeutic process. The picture becomes fuller by looking at the many important influences in a child's life, including but not limited to, parents, teachers, and school. A note on endings completes the picture.

Altman et al. clearly outline essential concepts that provide the basis for relational theory. They review critical elements from object relations theory, interpersonal theory, infant research, and intersubjectivity. They provide one of the most lucid definitions of projective identification as a means of communication and understanding another person. Their discussion of the concept integrates our everyday use of it and highlights its relational aspects and purposes. The authors differentiate relational psychoanalytic theory from other psychoanalytic theories by locating the “site of action” as the interactive process of the analysis. Relational theory is interested in what happens in relationships, including those between the