Psychodynamic assessment of children and adolescents

This unit is designed to present an introduction to the conceptual framework and guidelines for the methodology of the psycho-dynamic assessment of psychological disturbance in children and adolescents. It will introduce you to disturbances in normal psychological development and the clinical concepts of assessment that are based on psychodynamic and developmental principles.

It will consider interviewing and observational methods with children and adolescents that enable psychological data to be collected and understood. It will also demonstrate the complex task of integrating information from several different sources to provide a diagnostic assessment of the individual nature and degree of disturbance presented, and the extent to which that interferes with the child's normal development and functioning.