ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the phenomena of transference and counter transference observed during the application of psychoanalytic psychotherapy as part of the in-patient care of traumatized adolescents. It shows that traumatized children and especially adolescents tend to use the mechanisms of denial, splitting, and projective identification. In the particular case of psychologically traumatized children or adolescents, the delicate relationship and balance between individual therapy and the unit setting is subjected to greater pressure and may prove to be fertile ground for the development of intense counter transference reactions, with an impact on therapy. In conjunction with the application of individual psychoanalytical psychotherapy in in-patient units, predominant phenomena provide fertile ground for the development of complex phenomena of transference and counter transference. The psychotherapists interaction with the other staff members is quite complex and affords scope for the development of counter transference reactions that may have an adverse effect on the outcome of psychotherapy and on the therapeutic quality of the setting.
