Assessment in Child Psychotherapy

Summary

This book presents a psychoanalytic approach to the assessment of children and young people who may benefit from psychotherapy. It emphasizes that assessment should go beyond identifying symptoms and should consider the child’s personality, emotional development, strengths, difficulties, family relationships, and wider social and school environment.

The book includes clinical discussions of different situations, such as work with very young children and their parents, developmental difficulties, family breakdown, severe psychological disturbance, eating difficulties, and adolescent problems. It also examines the assessment of risk, including self-harm in adolescents.

A central idea is that assessment is not simply a preliminary step before treatment. The way the child, parents, and therapist interact during assessment can itself provide important information about the child’s internal world and family relationships. The therapist therefore pays attention not only to what is said but also to emotional responses, patterns of interaction, and the child’s capacity to communicate and form relationships.

Overall, the book presents assessment as a dynamic clinical process that helps the therapist understand the child within their relational context and decide what kind of intervention is most appropriate.