The Adelaide Institute of Psychoanalysis is presenting an online talk by Bernard Roberts, Head of the Child & Adolescent Clinic of the British Psychoanalytical Society.
‘A Child’s Use of Psychoanalysis in Developmental Struggles with Confusing Objects’
“In this paper I use extracts from the clinical encounter with a child, who started a four-year analysis just before her 7th birthday, to illustrate the painful struggles in her inner world. The external world had presented adults who behaved so inconsistently and unpredictably that the child was confused between pretend and genuine feelings. The struggles came alive in moving ways in the to and fro of the transference and countertransference and were often dramatized in the child’s relationship to and with her body.
In child analysis there is not infrequently bodily contact with the analyst, conveying a great deal of communication and meaning. Sometimes it seemed urgent for the child to use parts of her own and the analyst’s body as the only available route both to deal with and communicate her internal reality. I draw your attention to this aspect of the analysis particularly in relation to the risk of consolidation of perverse structures and defences into adult life.”
Mode : Online via Zoom
Date : Thursday, 3rd April 2025
Time : 7.30 p.m. (Adelaide, South Australia)
Cost: $90
Now open for registration below
Bernard Roberts, is an Adult and Child Analyst and Training Analyst of The British Psychoanalytical Society. His is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Brent Centre for Young People. He trained at the Cassel Hospital and The Tavistock Clinic. In his NHS career he was Medical Director of Kingston and District Community NHS Trust and Lead Psychotherapist at Central North West London Foundation NHS Trust. He works in full-time private analytic practice.
For enquiries please email: aippsychoanalysis@gmail.com
NOTE: This talk will not be recorded & registrations close on 26th March 2025