Analyzing Children (The Vulnerable Child Series)

by EDWARD KOHN

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Author: EDWARD KOHN

Paperback:
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 10: 1538121034
ISBN 13: 978-1538121030

Hardcover:
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 10: 1538121026
ISBN 13: 978-1538121023

Freud described changes in the structure of the mind, including the consolidation of the superego with resolution of the oedipal complex. Important psychoanalytic thinkers since Freud have studied and emphasized the role of pre-oedipal development in the creation of psychological structure. While each of these authors developed his or her own language and concepts, they all described a fundamental transition in the structure and working of the mind that has profound importance for the psychological functioning of the child and the adult she later becomes.

This book closely examines the analyses of two little girls. One began analysis having already achieved the transition to a more enduring and reliable psychic structure, a cohesive self. Because she had several experiences that overwhelmed her emotional capacities prior to entering the oedipal phase of development, her oedipal experience was filled with anxiety and overstimulation. At the start of her analysis , the second child contended with anxiety about loss of the object and abandonment, and she struggled with the process of separation/individuation. Her psychic structure, her self, was not cohesive, and she was vulnerable to fragmentation. During her analysis, her stymied development was freed up, and the authors trace the changes within her as psychic structure consolidated and oedipal material took center stage.

Comparison of these two young girls and their analyses enables the authors to illustrate and describe important mental phenomena and psychoanalytic concepts. These include psychic structure, the self, the similarities and differences between a mind that is vulnerable to fragmentation and one that is not, and the internal states associated with fragmentation and trauma. By looking into the differences (and similarities) in the ways each girl responded to interventions by her analyst, the authors explore psychoanalytic technique and therapeutic action, including the many manifestations of interpretation and insight, the role of the analyst as a developmental object, and the development of psychic structure. The authors show how similar manifest behavior and content have different latent meanings and sources for each child, and they further illustrate the transformations of fantasies, anxieties, preoccupations, and ego structures over the course of their analyses.

Review

In four collaborative chapters, Kohn (Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute) explores in detail the case histories of two juvenile subjects to demonstrate the psychoanalytic process of enabling young children to assemble the elements of a traumatized or fragmented psychic structure into a cohesive self. Isabel, through the reported interaction with her therapist (coauthor Huddleston), eventually becomes able to fully express herself without fear of repercussions. Ella at first lacks the ability to verbalize distress stemming from specific family events that were beyond her immediate understanding but gradually learns to express her basic feelings through role-playing with her analyst (coauthor Kaufman), during which she learns to create meaningful maps or drawings representing the related feelings rather than act out aggressive impulses. In the subsequent nine chapters of the book, Kohn provides nuanced explanations of Freudian and post-Freudian concepts and therapeutic processes as illustrated by the two analyses, creating a useful reference for child psychotherapists, students of developmental psychology, and academic researchers.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and practitioners. (CHOICE)

In this easily readable yet deeply nuanced work, the brilliant analyses of two girls at different levels of psychic structure are presented. The reader is given a wonderful blend of theory and technique, but most importantly the deep humanity of both therapists and children are never out of the limelight. This is a first-rate book for psychodynamic thinkers and clinicians at all levels. (Steven Tuber, City College of New York; author of Attachment, Play, and Authenticity: Winnicott in a Clinical Context)

This thoughtful examination by Edward Kohn of two gifted therapists’ analytic work with troubled young girls presenting altogether different levels of psychic structural pathology, his conceptualization of child development and the disorders stemming from the early period of life, and the analysis of this pathology is truly a masterpiece. This volume is a must read for not only child and adolescent analysts but for those who want to better understand their adult analysands. (Cliff Wilkerson, Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute)

A tour de force, this book explores the mind of the child and demonstrates how the clinician comprehends it, enters it, and helps it to mend and grow. Huddleston and Kaufman present what appear to be similar children, yet are strikingly different in the ways they are structured and analyzed, bringing the work alive for the reader. Kohn beautifully examines both cases through various lenses and with a depth that adds a significant contribution to our theories of development, relationships, technique, and therapeutic action. This book will appeal to all who work therapeutically with children, as well as adults. (Jill M. Miller, Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis)

About the Author

Edward I. Kohn, MD, is on the faculty of the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute (CPI) and the Southeast Consortium for Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis, serving as a training and supervising analyst at CPI and a child and adolescent supervising analyst at both CPI and the Southeast Consortium.

Christie Huddleston, MD, is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Philadelphia. She is on the faculty of the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia and served as past director of the Adult Psychoanalytic Program. She is associate clinical professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and teaches and supervises psychiatric residents and fellow at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, and Einstein Medical Center.

Adele Kaufman, MSW, is training and supervising analyst and child and adolescent supervising analyst at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. She received the Chicago Institute’s 1988 Michael Littner Distinguished Scholar Award and the Joan Fleming Teaching Award for Distinction in Psychoanalytic Teaching in 2013; she was co-chair of the Child and Adolescent Committee from 2006 to 2010; chair of the committee until 2015; and co-dean of the Chicago Institute. She is in the private practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in Highland Park, Illinois.

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Analyzing Children (The Vulnerable Child Series)