Manual for Short-term Psychoanalytic Child Therapy (PaCT)

Manualisation of psychodynamic psychotherapy poses a formidable challenge, but may prove indispensable in the effort to disseminate short-term psychodynamic treatments to a wider patient community. In the case of childhood emotional disturbances, the need for widely available treatments is particularly pressing especially once we pay heed to the emotional turmoil also underpinning many behavioural problems. Short-term Psychoanalytic Child Therapy (PaCT) is an emotion-oriented, play-focused treatment that aims to help the child to relinquish rigidly held maladaptive defence mechanisms that give rise to symptoms and interfere with healthy development. PaCT comprises twenty to twenty-five psychotherapeutic sessions conducted in alternating settings (parent-child, child alone, parents alone), in which a relational theme is uncovered and worked through. Here, the authors have created a manual for PaCT, successfully retaining the complexity of each treatment whilst making the application accessible for a greater range of settings. This manual will be of use to trainees and practising therapists alike.

Table of Contents:
Introduction , Theoretical Background , Emotional symptoms and affective disorders in childhood: epidemiology, aetiopathogenesis, diagnosis, and indications , Classical psychoanalytical concepts , More recent psychoanalytical and psychological development concepts , Treatment Manual: The Therapeutic Concept of PaCT , Introductory overview of Part II , When to refer for PaCT , Before therapy begins , The treatment technique , The therapeutic phases of PaCT , Summary: therapeutic process of PaCT , Prerequisites for the therapist , Limitations of a short-term psychotherapeutic approach , Risks and side effects of PaCT , Case Studies 3 , Case study 1: Julian, six years old , Case study 2: Sophie, five years old , Case study 3: Elisabeth, six years old

About the Author :
Tanja Gottken is a psychologist, psychoanalyst, research associate and head of the local psychotherapy section at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Germany. Kai von Klitzing is a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry and director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Germany, and a psychoanalyst for adults, adolescents, and children.

Review :
'Structured brief treatments have surprised all of us in terms of their effectiveness and the enduring benefit they deliver. The authors bring the advantage of this approach to the field of child therapy in an exceptionally well-constructed package that provides an excellent foundation for both training and research. We are in debt to the authors for the clarity and coherence with which their conceptual framework and their technique is presented and the quality of integration between the two, which they are able to achieve to facilitate our clinical work with young children.'- Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, and Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre, London