Early Encounters with Children and Adolescents: Beginning Psychodynamic Therapists’ First Cases

163 Pages·2015·1.22 MB·English

by  Steven Tuber

EARLY ENCOUNTERS WITH
CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Early Encounters with Children and Adolescents is the first training guide to use the
works of beginning therapists as its focus. Far too often, therapists in training are
given the “classics” to read—case histories by the masters in the field, which can
sometimes leave beginning therapists intimidated or even in despair as to whether
they can ever reach that level of proficiency. This book is the first to remedi-
ate that situation by providing beginners with role models they can more easily
internalize through realistic case histories that reveal the ins and outs of starting in
a craft that is never fully mastered. Not only are the cases themselves fascinating,
but the therapists also refer to the processes they struggled with while treating
these patients. Readers will thus have a striking new counterweight to the classics
they will still want to read as they progress in the field. Eight beginning clini-
cians discuss aspects of their clinical process, including: issues of transference and
countertransference; the role of supervision; doing parent consultations, espe-
cially when one is not yet a parent; cultural, racial, and socioeconomic differences
between patient and therapist; and the vulnerability of not understanding for long
moments in treatment. Psychodynamic beginners in every discipline will find
these case histories compelling, heartfelt, and inspiring.
Steven Tuber, PhD, ABPP, is professor of psychology and director of clinical
training in the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the City College of
New York, where he has taught for nearly 30 years. He is the author of three
critically acclaimed books: Attachment, Play, and Authenticity: A Winnicott Primer
(2008), Starting Treatment with Children and Adolescents (2011), and Understanding
Personality Through Projective Testing (2012).
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EARLY ENCOUNTERS
WITH CHILDREN AND
ADOLESCENTS
Beginning Psychodynamic
Therapists’ First Cases
Edited by Steven Tuber
First published 2015
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Steven Tuber
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Early encounters with children and adolescents: beginning
psychodynamic therapists’ first cases/[edited] by Steven Tuber.
p.; cm.
Eight of these ten chapters have been previously published in a modified
version by Routledge in the December 2013 edition of the Journal of
infant, child and adolescent psychotherapy (JICAP, volume 12).
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Tuber, Steven, 1954-, editor. II. Journal of infant, child and adolescent
psychotherapy.
[DNLM: 1. Child. 2. Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic—Case Reports.
3. Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic—Collected Works. 4. Adolescent. WS 350.2]
RJ505.P92
618.92′8914—dc23
2014030556
ISBN: 978-1-138-81591-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-81592-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74650-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales and Willis Ltd., Exeter, Devon, UK
To all beginning therapists, we welcome you warmly to a
most noble profession.
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CONTENTS
List of Contributors ix
1 An Introduction 1
Steven Tuber
2 The Very First Patient: Becoming Real Together 7
Kira Boesch
3 How Do I Work With Parent and Child, Especially if
I Am Not Yet a Parent? 19
Mougeh Yasai
4 How Do I Work Long-Term With a Child When I Only
Have a Year to Work With Him?: The Conflicts Inherent
in Time-Limited Therapy while in Clinical Training 37
Elizabeth Freidin Baumann
5 Finding One’s Self: Developing a Therapeutic Identity as a
Beginning Therapist Doing Long-Term Work 47
Monique S. Bowen
6 Modeling a Therapeutic Identity for a Beginning Therapist
in Supervision 67
Jenny Kahn Kaufmann
viii Contents
7 Building Safety and Containment: Responding to
Challenges to the Frame With Both Parent and Child 75
Jane Caflisch
8 “Following the Affect”: How My First Child Patient
Helped Teach Me to Listen and See 95
Jason Royal
9 “Psychic Twins”: A Psycho-dynamically Informed Treatment
of a Selectively Mute Adolescent and Her Mother 115
Zoë Berko
10 Passing the Baton From One Beginning Therapist to the
Next: An Adolescent Treated by Two Successive Interns 131
Lauren DeMille
Index 149
CONTRIBUTORS
Elizabeth Freidin Baumann, PhD
Zoë Berko, MPhil
Kira Boesch, MA
Monique S. Bowen, PhD
Jane Caflisch, PhD
Lauren DeMille, PhD
Jenny Kahn Kaufmann, PhD
Jason Royal, PhD
Steven Tuber, PhD, ABPP
Mougeh Yasai, PhD