ABSTRACT
This book outlines the wide range of psychoanalytically informed work undertaken by the child psychotherapist: it quickly becomes apparent that most child psychotherapists prefer to work with individuals rather than with groups. Whilst all child psychotherapists do some group work, this primarily takes place within the natural group of the family. However, group psychotherapy began with the support of Martha Harris, in the Children and Families’ Department at the Tavistock Clinic in the early 1970s (Reid et al. 1977). The establishing of the Group Psychotherapy Workshop in 1985 has provided a forum for ongoing developments in thinking about theory and practice as a result of which there is a book in preparation with contributions from many members of the workshop (Reid 1987, 1991; Reid and Kolvin 1993). Outside the Tavistock, other child psychotherapists, notably John Woods, for example, have contributed to thinking in the field (Woods 1993). However, group psychotherapy is not practised as widely as might be expected when one takes into account the advantages of group work, particularly for reaching those children, adolescents and their families who would never attend a child guidance clinic. Whilst there has certainly been much more interest in psychoanalytic group psychotherapy with adults, and an accompanying literature, it is also true to say that group psychotherapy has never equalled the interest given to individual work. Interestingly, this seems to be the case not only in Great Britain but around the world.
