Termination in child analysis. A child-led process?

The paper begins by drawing attention to the disjunction between the theoretical conceptualizations of termination in child analysis and the process as it actually occurs. The central focus is on the process itself. Material is presented from four child analyses to illustrate the idiosyncratic ways in which the termination phase unfolded. The cases selected make it possible to consider termination in relation to each developmental phase. Our central argument is that, although the analyst should have certain criteria for termination in mind, termination in child analysis is essentially a child-led process.