ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a different ingredient; that of the clinician's mental attitude to his patient. It provides a contribution to the insufficiently explored, yet difficult subject of the clinician's attitude, tone and style in the therapeutic encounter. Many child psychotherapists seem able to retain an easy-mannered, flexible attitude without feeling guilty or threatened about breaking boundaries. At the risk of seeming prescriptive about an attitude which should be essentially open and flexible, naturalness in the therapeutic setting involves providing a safe, nonpersecutory, facilitating environment for patients, so that analytic work can be done. The chapter outlines situations in which: naturalness was helpful; the absence of naturalness was harmful; and something one might regard as natural was unhelpful or needed working through. A natural attitude and technique is only effective within the parameters of the analytic process. A natural, open, non-doctrinaire style can enhance the, "atmosphere of safety" within the parameters of the analytic setting.
