Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: Making the Conscious Unconscious

Blake provides a personal account of his professional experience of working with children and adolescents over the last 45 years, integrating conceptual and practical advice. This third edition highlights his evolution from a traditional epistemological to a more ontological framework, exploring a more intuitive and unconscious way of working. It will be of immense value to psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and those involved in the treatment of children's mental health.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 334 pages
Publication date: 25 March 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

In this comprehensive and insightful third edition, Blake delves into his extensive professional journey, spanning over 45 years, working with children and adolescents. Through a seamless blend of conceptual understanding and practical application, this book elucidates complex theories while offering invaluable guidance for clinicians through a step-by-step approach to conducting interviews with parents, emotionally assessing children and adolescents, setting up a consulting room, and conducting therapy sessions. The inclusion of chapter summaries, questions, and suggested further readings provides a valuable framework for individuals enrolled in child and adolescent training programs.

Blake's experience, garnered from both public and private sectors, is vividly portrayed through clinical examples, showcasing his thought processes and approach to therapy. This edition particularly emphasizes his transition from a traditional epistemological framework, emphasizing interpretation and insight, to a more ontological framework, emphasizing a more intuitive and unconscious way of working. Blake argues that this approach is more developmentally appropriate for children and adolescents, allowing for deeper exploration and understanding of their emotional struggles.

Through his accessible writing style, Blake transports the reader into his clinical world, filled with captivating stories of children expressing themselves through play, adolescents exploring their identities through discussions about music, films, sports, and computer games, and helping parents navigate their child's emotional challenges. This third edition, a fusion of various theoretical orientations, including Kleinian, Bionian, Winnicottian, relational, non-linear, and neurological perspectives, draws from recent developments in both theory and technique. It holds immense value for psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and all professionals involved in the treatment of children's mental health.

Weight: 510g
Dimension: 155 x 233 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367403829
Edition number: 3 New edition