‘Coming into being’: The process of developmental growth in a severely deprived child in intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy

This thesis is a study of recovery, reparation and developmental progress in a severely deprived child in intensive psychoanalytic treatment. The methodology involved the detailed analysis of a single case study, using grounded theory. The study was designed to analyse the process of treatment and discover how the child made developmental progress. Implications for psychoanalytic technique in working with children who have endured severe deprivation is examined. Some of the key findings add to existing knowledge about psychotherapeutic theory and practice, particularly in relation to reverie, attunement and containment in the context of the child's experience of gaps and breaks in treatment