Aggression in the consulting room: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the ways aggression is experienced and understood by Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists.

Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists (CPTs) regularly encounter and work with different expressions of aggression in their consulting rooms. This is an important aspect of clinical practice because aggression can be found in the work with most patients. This study aims to investigate the CPT’s lived experience and understanding of aggression in the room. The findings of this study suggest that CPTs attempt to experience their patient’s expressions of aggression with the aim to attribute meaning and develop understanding as part of the therapeutic process, which separates them from professionals from other disciplines. This dynamic and an awareness of the CPT’s own relationship to aggression impact on the containment of patients and their development. CPTs can also express aggression in form of enactment or retaliation as part of projective identification. An awareness of this potential dynamic can prevent enactment and retaliatory responses. Some expressions of aggression can be understood as an important and creative aspect of therapy. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data from seven semi-structured interviews of CPTs. The findings are discussed in relation to psychoanalytic literature.