Therapeutic consultations in child psychiatry Book

For several decades, the world-renowned psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott had been evolving a personal way of communicating with children, providing them with a professional setting in which to discover themselves. This volume, containing twenty-one therapeutic consultations, demonstrates the late Winnicott's highly successful techniques. When Therapeutic Consultations was first published in 1971, psychiatrist Charles Rycroft called it "Winnicott at his best," pointing out that "it is a revelation to watch how rapidly he makes contact with each patient and how illuminating this technique of imaginative participation in the child's play can be." In Winnicott's view, a full and free use of the first interview can yield rich rewards. Through the drawing game of "squiggles," this extraordinarily gifted clinician was able to help children and their families gain insights and make changes after only a few interviews. In presenting his remarkable methods (complete with the drawings that are essential to his technique), this volume demonstrates the exciting potential of Winnicottás approach and brilliantly illuminates the application of psychoanalysis to the treatment of children. The case histories reported here are destined to be as important to child psychiatry as Freud's case histories were to the treatment of neurosis in adults.