Psychoanalytic parent counselling: the ‘Viennese model’ of parental sessions and its roots in Anna Freud’s theories

This paper describes a method of guiding parents and educators that has been taught and practised in Vienna for over 30 years: ‘Psychoanalytisch-pädagogische Erziehungsberatung’ or ‘psychoanalytic education counselling’. The approach was initially developed by child psychoanalyst Helmuth Figdor to support parents, caregivers and educators in preparation for, or in parallel to their child receiving individual psychoanalytic treatment. However, he found that this parental guidance often alleviated the need for the child to begin therapy and so systematised the approach into a psychodynamic intervention of its own. Training is a three-year, post-graduate programme comprising theory, clinical practice under supervision and a training analysis. Although Figdor clearly references Anna Freud, some links to her theories are quite implicit. After briefly outlining the ‘Viennese model’, this paper links specific aspects of the approach to Anna Freud’s writings, highlighting similarities and differences.