Following recent interest in this journal in building bridges between a psychoanalytic and systemic approach to family therapy (Vol. 19, 1997), the authors take up the debate. A clinical vignette from a recent article is used for discussion and, in order to describe further work from a psychoanalytic perspective, two case vignettes are presented. The comparisons are discussed with particular reference to the concepts of projective identification, transference/countertransference and internal object relations.
children would always have a positive outcome given sufficient time. I feel that this does not reflect the reality of clinical practice, in which poor outcome cases do occur. Moreover, the view presented by the book could be silencing for trainee therapists who need to explore and make sense of poor outcomes they may experience among their clients. Overall, the book is accessible and easy to read, it makes psychoanalytic concepts comprehensible and contains much thought-provoking discussion and practical advice. However, I feel it that presents an overly optimistic picture of psychotherapy with children and is, in places, frustrating for use in academic pursuits as theories are not always clearly identified.
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