PSYCHOANALYTICALLY-INFORMED WORK WITH INTERPRETERS

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which psychoanalytically-informed work undertaken in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Department was affected by the necessity of working with interpreter colleagues, and the way in which this work could be refined when it was thought about more clearly. Examples are provided of the sorts of difficulties which arose in the clinical encounter, and of the ways in which input from interpreters could enhance the work done. Dialogue which needs the presence of another worker who has a specific interpreting function is considered, and links are made to other therapeutic modalities such as group and marital therapy. The viability of psychoanalytically-informed work with interpreters is considered.

Notes

This paper was the winner of the 2003 Clinical Essay Prize awarded by the Educational Trust of the APP.