ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some of the interferences caused by the presence of parents in psychotherapeutic work with children. It describes some of the essential tasks of the work of the child psychotherapist and of child psychotherapy and how these are assisted by the setting offered. All theorizing about psychic development must take into account the influence of the outside world on the one hand, and intrapsychic organization on the other. The work of the child psychotherapist has two functions: an interpreting one and a symbolizing one provided by a symbolizing counter transference. The chapter shows that through clinical vignettes how contact with and pressures from the parents can, in a variety of ways, affect the therapist's work with the child through differing counter transference reactions to the parents. Interference from the existence of the parents is strongly in evidence from the planning stages of psychotherapeutic treatment.
