ABSTRACT
In psychotherapy and in particular in the classic, highly frequent psychoanalysis the setting, meaning the agreed framework conditions in which the therapy takes place, plays an important role. Psychoanalytic social work treats questions of setting and framework conditions in a completely different way from that just described for psychoanalytically orientated psychotherapeutic work. In contrast to the psychoanalytic procedures, which prescribe a clear setting for treatment, in psychoanalytic social work, after careful reflection, the framework conditions are systematically adapted to the unconscious conflict patterns of the client. The presentation of the boy—as requested—at the child and adolescent psychiatric clinic helped to “disperse” a little the paranoid basic attitude of the family and so to stabilise the cooperation in the framework of psychoanalytic social work. Manuel was allowed to go back on condition that the family members declared themselves willing to cooperate in sessions with a psychoanalytic social worker.
