The Unfolding of the Narrative in the Psychotherapy of a Traumatized Preadolescent Child

Abstract

This paper examines various psychoanalytic conceptions of trauma, including ideas associated with classical psychoanalytic theory (Freud), object-relations theory (Khan), self-psychology (Kohut and Tolpin) and continuous construction theory (Zeanah et al.). Clinical issues germane to the psychotherapy of children are discussed, and a reciprocal storytelling technique used by the author in his work with certain traumatized children is introduced. A clinical vignette is then presented. The vignette focuses upon the psychotherapy of a 10-year-old boy who had been a victim of multiple traumata, with particular attention given to the narrative discourse that evolved in the course of this boy's therapy. The evolution of this child's narrative is illustrated through the use of transcribed material derived from different phases of the boy's treatment.