Psychoanalytic Therapy with Children in the Realities of War

In this chapter, the authors highlight the experience of psychoanalytic work with children during the war in Ukraine through case analysis. The issues of aggression and guilt in children who experience war are revealed as a function of not only war conditions but as ways that parents in such conditions struggle with maintaining the integrity of child's distinct psychic subjectivity. In addition to reflecting on parent-child dynamics in war circumstances, varied aspects that influence child psychoanalysis in wartime and became a challenge are also analyzed. Specifically, we discuss the parental position, the figure of the analyst, transference and countertransference feelings between parents and the analyst, and relations with money. Analyst's own experiences of war are also presented.