TRANSITIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR LOOKED-AFTER CHILDREN IN 'SHORT-TERM' FOSTER CARE

摘要

This paper describes the treatment model developed within a multi-disciplinary child and adolescent mental health team working with looked-after children in short-term care. A combined psychoanalytic and systemic ethos underpins the clinical work, liaison, training and consultation carried out by the service. Specific guiding theoretical principles include Freud's theory of repetition compulsion, and Bion's concept of containment. A clinical case example is used to illustrate the application of these concepts to the therapeutic approach which I call transitional psychotherapy. This charts the development of mindfulness and the capacity to think of a child deprived of parental care.