The psychologically orientated pediatrician and the provision of psychoanalytic psychotherapy

The experiences of a consultant pediatrician attempting to introduce into his practice an additional mode of treatment that he wished to offer to some of his patients, namely psychoanalytical psychotherapy, is described. Having previously operated successfully as an analytic psychotherapist with patients referred to him by a child psychiatrist, he attempted to function formally as an analytic psychotherapist with selected patients from his own pediatric practice. However, this significant change of role was not accepted by the children and their parents. Reasons are looked for to explain this finding, the significance of which may be of importance to pediatric practice in general and may have wider implications in the whole area of the doctor/patient relationship.