Braving the Erotic Field in the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Children and Adolescents

Braving the Erotic Field in the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Adolescents and Children is a groundbreaking collection of chapters that addresses the lack of psychoanalytic writing on working with erotic feelings in the consulting room when treating children and adolescents. It suggests that the subtle interchange of feelings, dreams, narratives, and images that arise when erotic feelings are in the fore is better conceptualized as an erotic field than as a binary of transference/countertransference. The book offers clinical work with small children to late adolescents, including gay and gender-fluid adolescents, and makes a decisive contribution to assist clinicians to brave the erotic field.

Format: Hardback
Length: 236 pages
Publication date: 18 March 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Braving the Erotic Field in the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Adolescents and Children is a groundbreaking collection of chapters authored by an international group of analytic experts. The book addresses the prevailing lack of psychoanalytic writing on working with erotic feelings in the consulting room when treating children and adolescents, which is particularly surprising given Freud's emphasis on childhood sexuality and the intense physical and psychological transformations experienced during adolescence.

This book proposes a novel perspective that views the subtle interplay of feelings, dreams, narratives, and images that emerge when erotic feelings are in the foreground as an erotic field, rather than as a binary of transference/countertransference. In contemporary psychoanalysis, the notion that transference love offers the potential to know the other in the most profound way is gaining traction, replacing a suspicion-driven attitude. The book will provide clinical examples and guidance for working with small children to late adolescents, including those who identify as gay or gender-fluid.

By offering insights and practical strategies for navigating the erotic field with children and adolescents, this book makes a significant contribution to assisting clinicians in embracing this challenging and complex terrain. It underscores the importance of understanding and addressing the sexual and emotional development of young clients, and provides a valuable resource for professionals working in the field of psychoanalysis.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032210018