Authors: Midgley, Nicholas¹; Target, Mary¹; Smith, Jonathan²

Source: Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, Volume 79, Number 2, June 2006 , pp. 257-269(13)

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• In this Subject: Neurology & Psychiatry ,  Psychology
• By this author: Midgley, Nicholas ;  Target, Mary ;  Smith, Jonathan

Abstract:

ObjectivesAs part of a larger study on the long-term follow-up of child psychoanalysis, this report focuses on understanding what impact former child patients feel their psychoanalytic treatments had on their lives, both as children and then through into their adult lives.

DesignThe study involved semi-structured interviews with 27 adults who, as children, had been seen in intensive psychoanalytic treatment at the Anna Freud Centre in London between 1952 and 1980.

MethodsInterpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, Jarman, & Osborn, 1999), a form of qualitative data analysis that aims to systematically explore the individual's perception or account of an object or event, was used to explore the participants' own understanding of the impact the analytic treatments had on their lives.

ResultsSix superordinate themes were established that describe different aspects of how participants felt the experience impacted on their lives, and these are presented in narrative form.

ConclusionIt is suggested that in some cases the development of a `self analytic function' was felt by the participants to be a crucial long-term outcome of successful child analysis; but that attention to the more negative evaluations of the child analyses can also teach us a great deal. Some implications for the understanding and evaluation of outcome in child psychoanalysis are discussed.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1348/147608305X52694

Affiliations: 1: Anna Freud Centre and University College London, UK 2: Birkbeck College, London, UK

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