OBJECTIVE: To compare a sample of 24 children who completed 12 months of psychoanalytical psychotherapy with a sample of 38 children who dropped out from treatment before 12 months of intervention. METHOD: Quantitative study involving two groups of children. Quasi-experimental treatment of single measure before the beginning of individual psychoanalytical psychotherapy. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found in the following variables: gender, symptoms, frequency of sessions, child's impulse and emotion control (measured using the Rorschach test and sociability scales), somatic complaints and internalizing behaviors, such as anxiety and depression (measured using the Child Behavior Checklist). CONCLUSIONS: CThe results revealed that child psychoanalytical psychotherapy is effective in the treatment of female children with internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression, who have little control of impulses and emotions and attend at least 12 months of psychoanalytical psychotherapy twice a week.
Child psychoanalytical psychotherapy; outcome research; psychoanalysis; effectiveness and dropout
