Fostering Independence

A. H. Brafman trained as a psychoanalyst of adults and children. In his NHS career he worked as a Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and for many years ran a group for parents and under-fives. He ran Infant Observation courses at the Institute of Psychoanalysis and also seminars on psychodynamic work with children, adolescents and adults for the British Society of Psychoanalysis and several other training organizations. He was also Honorary Lecturer at University Hospital Medical School, where he taught students and psychotherapy trainees. He has published a number of books, including 'Untying the Knot', 'Fostering Independence: Helping and Caring in Psychodynamic Therapies', and 'The Language of Drawings: A New Finding in Psychodynamic Work'.

• Introduction -- Introductory Note to Chapter One Dogma vs. doubt -- Infant observation -- Introductory Note to Chapter Two The role of intuition -- Winnicott's therapeutic consultations revisited -- Introductory Note to Chapter Three and Four Who should ask? -- Increase or not increase? -- Touching and affective closeness -- Introductory Note to Chapters Five and Six Flexibility -- Child analysis: when? -- Tailor-made therapy for the child: new developments in Winnicottian work with young people -- Introductory Note to Chapters Seven and Eight Feet on the ground -- Letter to a young psychotherapy trainee -- Memorizing vs. understanding -- Introductory Note to Chapters Nine and Ten Helping? Yes, but how? -- Holding, containing, interpretations: a question of timing? -- The setting: what makes therapy work? -- Introductory Note to Chapter Eleven Adolescents -- Working with adolescents: a pragmatic view*

'For more than half a century, Dr A. H. Brafman has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of children and their families. Though modest and tolerant in his thinking - like all good intellectuals - Brafman could never be described as bland. He holds many strong opinions, some highly challenging to orthodoxy; and he shares his theories generously. His collection of papers represents the very best of the independent tradition in contemporary psychological work; and no student can claim to have completed his or her education without having engaged seriously with Dr A. H. Brafman and with his numerous enriching contributions.'- Professor Brett Kahr, Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Psychotherapy and Mental Health, Centre for Child Mental Health, London, and Honorary Visiting Professor, School of Arts, Roehampton University, London