Authors: Dra. Patricia Ovejas, Lic. Albertina Feeney, Lic. Sofia Castelli.
The gradual increase of poverty rates in Latin America and its effects on children from socioeconomically vulnerable populations raises the need for innovative responses in the field of mental health. Faced with these needs, the present study aims at evaluating the efficacy of focused psychotherapy, where Viktor Frankl´s and Héctor Fiorini´s theoretical frameworks are integrated, in children from 8 to 11 years old who attend a Psychological Orientation Center located in a shanty town in Buenos Aires. The 50 records that make up this research are part of a sample that includes 330 medical records of patients of different ages who underwent treatment between 2014 and 2019. The issues to be addressed (foci) were identified at the beginning of each individual treatment. Participants were assessed before and after treatment with the House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) graphic projective technique and, in addition, a case study was analyzed by interviewing the patient and therapists to make a qualitative outcome assessment. The outcomes, measured using the Wilcoxon test, revealed that there were significant improvements in various issues raised throughout the treatments. The revision of the HTP technique revealed that patients presented favorable changes in issues such as interpersonal relationships, self-esteem and ego strength. The case study reinforced these results.
The findings of this research suggest that the integration of Logo therapy and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy could be an effective and an innovative approach to address the current issues affecting children in socio-economically vulnerable populations.
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