[Indications for individual child psychotherapy in a Guidance Center]

The aim of this article is to describe how we conceptualise in practical indications of individual psychotherapy in the frame of the consultation of a guidance center. We will not review the literature concerned with this subject. We shall start with the study of the following factors : parents, family, reality features (distance, time, money...). Then, we study the positive and negative features in the child. We explain first all we consider to be the main obstacles in the psychic structure of the child. Then we describe in detail the favorable elements to the psychotherapeutic work. We also recall cases who, without being impossible to treat, require a big experience from the therapist, because of complexity and demand. They are sometimes treated in our unit, according to the disponibility of the therapists. In conclusion, we indicate that the choice of psychotherapy depends not only from the sick child and his familial milieu, but also from the therapist who will involve himself in this type of treatment.