Liselotte Grunbaum - Böcker

The power of play, so central to psychoanalytic theory and practice, is conjoined to the social psychological or socio-politically coloured concept of power, giving rise to many fruitful discussions of how these concepts manifest themselves in clinical work with children, groups and adults. The inspiration for this book was the 3-section EFPP conference in Copenhagen in May 2007 with the main theme "Play and Power". At the conference and in the book, this theme is presented both inside and outside the therapeutic space. It is amply illustrated in clinical cases from individual psychotherapies with children and adults and from group analysis. Most of the examples are with hateful or resigned children and adults who have been exposed to extremely damaging or unhelpful environments, and who demonstrate convincingly some of the devastating consequences that abuse of power in the real world may have. Play and power are also explored in the broader context of the community, however.

This book is both a textbook and book of reference for all child and adolescent psychotherapists. It addresses both novices, who need to learn the theories and methods of the work, and also experienced psychotherapists, who want to expand their knowledge, at the same time getting a readily-accessible update and revival of the many ways in which psychodynamic child and adolescent psychotherapy enters into contemporary practice. The book offers a clear, methodologically precise and updated introduction to the theories, methods and practice of the field. The authors demonstrate through practical examples what psychodynamic child and adolescent psychotherapy is, and how a psychotherapy can be planned and carried out, expounding the necessary preconditions, settings and methods. A personal understanding of the complexity of the therapeutic relationship is presented together with an elucidation of drawings and symbolic play, parallel work with parents, and the special conditions for work with adolescents. A special section deals with the meaning of time, beginnings, endings, and breaks in psychotherapy, followed by a part about the methodological adaptations necessary for psychotherapy with children and adolescents suffering from maltreatment and complex trauma. The book ends with a description of the present state of research in the field.