Conversion from child psychotherapy to child analysis

Issues having to do with conversion of child therapy to child analysis when immersion (increased frequency) is introduced are discussed. The reasons for deciding on a psychotherapy disposition rather than an analytic one are reviewed. The effects of immersion on the patient, the parents, and on the child analyst are considered. Issues having to do with differences between a transference object, new object, and real object are considered, as well as the effects on each object following conversion. The treatment of a latency boy is presented as an illustration of many of the issues raised in the paper.