Margaret Rustin

Margaret Rustin’s writing is characterised not only by its subject matter, which is diverse, but by her imaginative sensitivity to the emotional lives of children and young people, the depth of her understanding, and her original insights into the complexities of child and adolescent psychotherapy. Here a selection of her work, edited by Kate Stratton and Simon Cregeen, is brought together in a collection which focuses mainly on clinical issues and concerns: the dynamics of the interaction between patient and therapist in the consulting room; the task of assessment; the particular needs of children and young people whose early development has been distorted by trauma, loss or neglect; and the framework and skills required for effective psychoanalytic work with parents. Illustrated by vivid narratives detailing the strains and possibilities of the therapeutic encounter, this book is a record of clinical work and thinking over 50 years of psychoanalytic practice. It will prove essential reading for psychoanalysts and child analysts, child psychotherapists, all those training as mental health professionals in work with children and parents, and anyone with an interest in deepening their understanding of the emotional lives of children and young people.

Margaret Rustin’s writing is characterised not only by its subject matter, which is diverse, but by her imaginative sensitivity to the emotional lives of children and young people, the depth of her understanding, and her original insights into the complexities of child and adolescent psychotherapy. Here a selection of her work, edited by Kate Stratton and Simon Cregeen, is brought together in a collection which focuses mainly on clinical issues and concerns: the dynamics of the interaction between patient and therapist in the consulting room; the task of assessment; the particular needs of children and young people whose early development has been distorted by trauma, loss or neglect; and the framework and skills required for effective psychoanalytic work with parents. Illustrated by vivid narratives detailing the strains and possibilities of the therapeutic encounter, this book is a record of clinical work and thinking over 50 years of psychoanalytic practice. It will prove essential reading for psychoanalysts and child analysts, child psychotherapists, all those training as mental health professionals in work with children and parents, and anyone with an interest in deepening their understanding of the emotional lives of children and young people.

This book brings the insights of psychoanalysis to bear on drama in the western dramatic tradition. Plays which are discussed in detail include works by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Wilde, and Beckett among others. The authors seek to show that the subtle understanding of conscious and unconscious emotions achieved by psychoanalytic practice can

Observing young children at play is an everyday and often fascinating and pleasurable experience for many of us. It also has a great pedigree in the development of psychoanalysis from Freud's observation of his grandson's game with the cotton-reel onwards. This book describes the practice of observing young children in home and nursery settings

Short-term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (STPP) is a manualised, time-limited model of psychoanalytic psychotherapy comprising twenty-eight weekly sessions for the adolescent patient and seven sessions for parents or carers, designed so that it can be delivered within a public mental health system, such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the UK. It has its origins in psychoanalytic theoretical principles, clinical experience, and empirical research suggesting that psychoanalytic treatment of this duration can be effective for a range of disorders, including depression, in children and young people. The manual explicitly focuses on the treatment of moderate to severe depression, both by detailing the psychoanalytic understanding of depression in young people and through careful consideration of clinical work with this group. It is the first treatment manual to describe psychoanalytic psychotherapy for adolescents with depression. The treatment approach described in this manual has been used in a multi-site randomised controlled trial in the UK, 'Improving Mood with Psychoanalytic and Cognitive Therapies' (IMPACT) and internationally. It is presented here as a treatment to be used in routine clinical practice and will be of interest to child psychotherapists, multi-disciplinary professionals in young people’s mental health, service providers, and researchers alike. After describing theoretical models of depression and presenting an overview of STPP as a treatment model, the manual details the specific stages of the STPP process for the therapist and adolescent patient. It then describes the nature and scope of parallel work with parents and gives a detailed account of the function of supervision.

On its first publication Narratives of Love and Loss was widely recognised as an important and perceptive contribution to the study of children's literature and for its capacity to stimulate deep emotional responses in both child and adult readers. This welcome reissue includes a new postscript exploring in detail the phenomenal success of J.K Rowling's series of Harry Potter stories. The authors succeed in bringing a deep sociological and psychoanalytic close reading to some of the finest writing for children in post-war Britain and America, including works by C.S. Lewis, Rumer Godden, E.B. White and Russel Hoban. Focussed primarily on the 'fantasy genre of stories' the authors identify and sensitively explore the themes of imaginative and emotional growth, language and play, love and loss; always situating these within the broader social and cultural context.

Reading Klein provides an introduction to the work of one of the twentieth century’s greatest psychoanalysts, known in particular for her contribution in developing child analysis and for her vivid depiction of the inner world. This book makes Melanie Klein’s works highly accessible, providing both substantial extracts from her writings, and commentaries by the authors exploring their significance. Each chapter corresponds to a major field of Klein’s work outlining its development over almost 40 years. The first part is concerned with her theoretical and clinical contributions. It shows Klein to be a sensitive clinician deeply concerned for her patients, and with a remarkable capacity to understand their unconscious anxieties and to revise our understanding of the mind. The second part sets out the contribution of her ideas to morality, to aesthetics and to the understanding of society, introducing writing by her associates as well as herself. The book provides a lucid account of Klein’s published writing, presented by two distinguished writers who know her work well and have made creative use of it in their own clinical and extra-clinical writing. Its aim is to show how substantial her contribution to psychoanalytic thinking and clinical practice was, and how indispensable it remains to understanding the field of psychoanalysis.Reading Klein will be a highly valuable resource for students, trainees in psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic practitioners and all who are interested in Melanie Klein and her legacy.

Reading Klein provides an introduction to the work of one of the twentieth century’s greatest psychoanalysts, known in particular for her contribution in developing child analysis and for her vivid depiction of the inner world. This book makes Melanie Klein’s works highly accessible, providing both substantial extracts from her writings, and commentaries by the authors exploring their significance. Each chapter corresponds to a major field of Klein’s work outlining its development over almost 40 years. The first part is concerned with her theoretical and clinical contributions. It shows Klein to be a sensitive clinician deeply concerned for her patients, and with a remarkable capacity to understand their unconscious anxieties and to revise our understanding of the mind. The second part sets out the contribution of her ideas to morality, to aesthetics and to the understanding of society, introducing writing by her associates as well as herself. The book provides a lucid account of Klein’s published writing, presented by two distinguished writers who know her work well and have made creative use of it in their own clinical and extra-clinical writing. Its aim is to show how substantial her contribution to psychoanalytic thinking and clinical practice was, and how indispensable it remains to understanding the field of psychoanalysis.Reading Klein will be a highly valuable resource for students, trainees in psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic practitioners and all who are interested in Melanie Klein and her legacy.