ABSTRACT
The third major component of child and adolescent psychotherapy, beside interpretation and play, is the use of the transference and countertransference. All analytic therapists, be they child or adult, are taught from the very beginning of their training about the importance of transference. Always thinking about and working with the transference is the one thing that differentiates an analytic therapist from any other form of therapist. What this means in practice is that you are always thinking about how the child is feeling towards you. What is happening between you, and what aspects of his or her behaviour in relation to you, are repeating earlier patterns in his or her life?
