Finding a place of one’s own: a grounded theory approach to reviewing the developmental impact of child psychotherapy with a looked-after 2-year-old child

Abstract

This chapter focuses on a single-case research study in which grounded theory methodology was applied for a retrospective analysis of the clinical material from an intensive psychotherapy treatment. It presents a brief outline of the case followed by a summary of the methodologies applied in the analysis, prior to a discussion of the material. As child psychotherapy has had a long history in the field of looked-after children, it seemed important to further the understanding of the treatment of this particular population with a focus on early development. Given that a psychotherapist’s work is so often focused on the slow and intimate development of a relationship, it is difficult to imagine what kind of research method could effectively clarify or accurately follow its finer contours. The grounded theory approach gave an opportunity to develop greater understanding about some of the themes and phenomena that lie at the heart of many child psychotherapy cases of very young looked-after children.