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The child analytic tradition of the Society of Analytical Psychology: Birth, death and beyond
Get PDFThis thesis seeks to chart the creation, development and eventual demise of the child analytic training of The Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP),the foremost Jungian Society in the UK. The brainchild of the Society's founding director, Michael Fordham, the creation of the child training drew on the talents and persistence of many committed individuals. Through oral history interviews and archival research I weave together a narrative that will serve as testament to this achievement and offer first hand recollections for posterity. Through these sources the narrative also explores the difficulties that the training faced and which ultimately led to its eventual demise. Additionally I interrogate the current status of this tradition of child analysis and ask the question whether or not the tradition continues to exist and if so in what ways; I conclude that currently the tradition can only be said to exist in an attenuated form and that the future is bleak. In the course of the thesis I locate the SAP training within the development more generally of child analytic provision within the UK, the relationship of that to the child guidance movement and to the psychoanalytic diaspora, which made it possible. I describe the current obstacles faced by the child psychotherapy discipline as well as psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the NHS
Psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents: an updated narrative review of the evidence base
No full textWhile the evidence base for psychodynamic therapy with adults is now quite substantial, there is still a lack of research evaluating the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapies with children and young people. Those studies that have been carried out are also not widely known in the field. To help address the second point, in 2011, we carried out a review of the evidence base for psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents, which identified 35 studies which together provided some preliminary evidence for this treatment for a range of childhood disorders. The present study is an updated review, focusing on research published between March 2011 and November 2016. During this period, 23 additional studies were published, of which 5 were reports on randomised controlled trials, 3 were quasi-experimental controlled studies and 15 were observational studies. Although most studies covered children with mixed diagnoses, there were a number of studies examining specific diagnostic groups, including children with depression, anxiety and disruptive disorders. whilst the quality of studies was mixed, some were well-designed and reported, and overall indicated promising findings. Nevertheless, further high-quality research is needed in order to better understand the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy across a range of different disorders, and to ensure that services can provide a range of evidence-based treatments for children and young people
Transitioning together: A narrative analysis of the support accessed by partners of trans people
Get PDFHistorically trans people have often wrongly been advised that the gender role transition process will result in the breakdown of their relationships (Lev, 2004), and couples have often been provided with little support through this process. This paper presents an in-depth narrative analysis of the accounts of six cisgender women who have been partnered with trans individuals. It focuses on the support
that non-trans partners accessed while their partner progressed through their gender transition. Support was deemed important by all participants in relation to their aim of remaining together with their partners. In terms of whom they accessed support from, participants spoke about interactions with other people in similar situations, with professional therapists, with the Gender Identity Clinics
(GICs), and with their partners. In regards to therapy, some
reported that their partner’s transition was a topic they did not need to discuss. Many reported they had to take an “educator” role in therapy, suggesting that more training for therapists is required. Those who attended GICs with their partner were ambivalent about whether they would have utilised support there if it had been available there, stating that locally situated support was preferable. The paper draws out the clinical implications in relation to these areas
Teaching assistants’ influence on the peer relationships of pupils with SEND: A grounded theory study from the perspective of teaching assistants
Get PDFThis study investigates the influence of teaching assistants (TAs) on the peer relationships of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools. Peer relationships are central to development. Whilst there is an increasing body of research into TAs’ contribution to academic outcomes, there are comparatively few studies into their social impact. The majority of studies investigating the impact of TAs on the peer relationships of pupils with SEND highlight concerns that TAs deployed in a one-to-one role inadvertently hinder pupil relationships. This study sought to explore and explain the strategies used by TAs and the underlying contextual factors which facilitate or constrain the development of positive peer relationships for pupils with SEND. The purpose of the research was to identify, from the perspective of TAs, ‘what works, for whom, in what contexts and with what outcomes’. Qualitative data from interviews with six TAs working in primary schools was analysed using a critical realist position and grounded theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2015). The results propose that TAs use ‘manager’ and ‘coach’ strategies to influence pupil peer relationships, via the core category of ‘social agency’. The ‘manager’ enabled short-term reductions in pupils’ level of social ‘risk’, problems and isolation, but constrained the development of social skills and increased dependency in the longer-term. The ‘coach’ encouraged pupils to take controlled, short-term risks, but facilitated their reflective thinking, social skills and independence. Three causal factors influenced TAs’ use these strategies; the level of social need of pupils, TAs’ values, knowledge, skills and integrated experience and the school context. The concept of ‘social agency’, applied to both TAs and pupils, explains the properties of, and relationships between the above components. The theory has implications for the practice of TAs and educational professionals and provides a basis for future research
Separation between a mother and child: The observer’s role as a container
No full textThe author describes the process of separation between a mother and her baby in an infant observation. Initially, the observer had a picture of a peaceful mother-and-baby couple, in which he was perceived as a potential intruder. However, the baby’s growing ego and interest in the observer confronted the mother with the presence of three during the observation hour, which seemed to lead her at times to resort to overexcitement to ward off difficult feelings related to separation and the threesome. When the mother went back to work, the struggle with separation became more evident. Overexcitement seemed to be the dominant way of dealing with the pain of separation. When these defences failed, the observer felt that he was the witness to and bearer of the pain. The author discusses the role of the observer in this observation as a container for the painful emotions which the mother and the baby seemed often unable to bear. The author suggests that the observer, as a container, might have been of use to the baby, and explores the observer’s difficulty in bearing the primitive and infantile emotions stirred up within him which provoked a wish for premature, intellectual understanding
How can a child psychoanalytic psychotherapy assessment contribute to the understanding of the individual experiences of children who are refugees?
Get PDFA small scale research project was undertaken to explore how child
psychoanalytic psychotherapy assessments could contribute to an understanding
of refugee children who were living with their parent(s) in the UK. A literature
review examined previous research and clinical work relating to child
psychotherapy research, assessment, trauma and loss, work with refugees and
research from other modalities. The research was conducted within a specialist
refugee service in a NHS CAMHS clinic. The research method was adapted from
previous work (Bradley, 2013) and comprised of 4 assessment sessions, an initial
appointment with the child and their parent(s) and a follow up appointment with
parents. Participants were 3 children aged 9 years old. Detailed observation
notes were written after each session and analysed using a thematic analysis
technique (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The child psychotherapy assessments
demonstrated that each child had individual ways of understanding and relating
to their experiences, growing up as refugees living with their families in the UK.
Findings that were common to the children were; sensitivity to separations from
their family and the end of the sessions, re-enactment of refugee experiences,
‘best’ behaviour, denial, feelings of deprivation and loss, impact of parental
mental health and trauma, good experiences in school. The children showed
differences in how they related and responded to issues of identity, understanding
their own refugee experiences and the defences they used when anxious.
Implications for clinical work related to how clinicians may respond to states of
deprivation, loss, and trauma by ‘wanting to do more and more’ and the need for
careful consideration of issues relating to the institution, interpreters, time
boundaries, parental mental health and trauma, anger and ordinary child
developmental tasks faced by the children and families. Child psychotherapy
assessments were found to be able to contribute to identifying needs for some
accompanied children, and additional parent work/parent individual work was
recommended. Further research in child psychotherapy assessment and working
with refugees was recommended
Love the wild swan: The selected works of Judith Edwards
No full textLove the Wild Swan is the culmination of thirty years of clinical and teaching experience, undertaken by child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist Judith Edwards. Along with new material, the book consists of previously published papers spanning Edwards’s entire career, which have been carefully selected to chart the journey that every clinician and human being makes, from babyhood to adult life.
Edwards offers an example of how the evolution of meanings occur and how lifelong learning about the self and the other takes place. The book is divided into four parts, with sections on observation, clinical work, teaching theory, and links between these ideas and ongoing life in the form of the arts, through poetry, film and sculpture
