Essay on the clinical method in children psychoanalysis

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the quality of the clinical method in children psychoanalysis, based on the contributions by D.W. Winnicott regarding the play and the elasticity concept of the S. Ferenczi technique. A vignette illustrates how new clinical strategies of listening and framing interrogate methodological and ethical values, problematizing the field of technique. We conclude that the quality of the therapeutic action goes through the analyst’s effort to safeguard the creative and free capacity in his art of performing psychoanalysis.