ABSTRACT
Treatment goals in dynamic child psychotherapy include symptom resolution, the modification of behavior, some modicum of personality change, and the return of the child to a normal developmental trajectory. A number of significant differences separate the psychotherapy of children from work with adults. As a general rule, few children start therapy with an expression of interest in discussing their wishes, intrapsychic conflicts, or defensive accommodations, nor are they likely to be very receptive to the therapist's efforts to introduce such ideas. Thematically, certain issues, such as parental divorce and separation, life-threatening illness of a close family member, and of course the loss of a parent, sibling, etc., may be likely to educe tearful reactions in children, both within and outside of therapy. A therapist's tears might also signify a more classical countertransference reaction, as in the case of a child whose conflicts or behavior have re-stimulated the therapist's own unworked-through issues.
