Psychoanalytic work with children is popular, but the sophisticated language used in psychoanalytic discourse can be at odds with how children communicate, and how best to communicate with them. Dialogues with Children and Adolescents: A Psychoanalytic Guide shows how these aims can be achieved for the most effective clinical outcome with children from infancy up to late adolescence.

Björn Salomonsson and Majlis Winberg Salomonsson draw on extensive case material which reveals the essence of communication between child and therapist. They enfranchise the patient of all ages as an equal participant in the therapeutic relationship. Presented in letter form the cases contain no professional terms. Only the final chapter contains theoretical commentaries applicable to each case. These terms and theories help to explain a child’s behaviour, the analyst’s technique and the background to the disorder.

This is new creative development in child therapy and analysis which is written in a very accessible style. Dialogues with Children and Adolescents will be essential reading for beginners in psychoanalytic work with children and will cast a fresh light on such work for more experienced clinicians. It will also appeal to the non-professional lay reader.