Assessing Change in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Children and Adolescents

This book draws together work from across Europe by leading clinical researchers who have taken up this challenge and have undertaken clinical research to look at the effectiveness of psychoanalytic interventions. They are mostly time-limited, brief, non-intensive ways of working, so are applicable in many settings and can therefore be generalized to other clinical teams. The populations worked with are diverse and often present mainstream services with refractory clinical problems so an applied psychoanalytic approach is well worth trying, given the evidence in this volume. There is in addition an excellent theoretical chapter on the issues for such clinical research from Stephen Shirk which merits consideration by those wanting to evaluate their own work. This book has had a long gestation but it is an important contribution to child and adolescent mental health services to ensure the full menu of interventions is retained, especially in these times of financial restraint, increasing family distress and concerns about inadequate parenting, family breakdown and troublesome adolescents.

John Tsiantis is Professor of Child Psychotherapy, President of European Union of Medical Specialists Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, previously Chief Editor of the EFPP Monographs book series, and President of the Hellenic Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Judith Trowell is an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Tavistock Clinic, and Professor of Child Mental Health, West Midlands NIMHE/CSIP and University of Worcester. She is a psychoanalyst and child analyst and worked for many years in the NHS as a clinician, trainer, and clinical researcher. Her publications include The Emotional Needs of Young Children and Their Families: Applications of Psychoanalysis in Community Settings/ (with Marion Bower) and the Importance of Fathers: A Psychoanalytic Re-Evaluation (with Alicia Etchegoyen).