A Child Analysis With Anna Freud

Peter Heller's book throws new light on the role of individual psychoanalysis within the full life-context of the analysand. We do learn much, of course, about Anna Freud's ways as an analyst. Hers was an active method, one in which she made at least one clear, central directive statement to the young Peter A much older Peter Heller confirms this judgement after many years of experience. Anna Freud makes little attempt in the course of the analysis to bring the repressed episodes of the boy's earlier life to consciousness; she deals instead with unconscious dynamics in the child's richly creative psychopathology of everyday life. Heller's highly literate mind, his profoundly lucid understanding of the analytic process, and his courageous personal candor combine to make this volume a unique addition to the literature of psychoanalysis, as well as a source of psychological insight for biographical studies in general.