Psychoanalytic Theoretical Principles

Aaron is a 6-year-old student who was referred to you for therapy to help with his behavior. He refuses to do any work at all. He also refuses to follow basic directions like “Go to your seat” or “Get in line for lunch.” He ignores all requests and spends the full day walking around the room, taking whatever he wants without permission. You do a case history and discover that he was removed from his parents’ custody repeatedly throughout his young life. His mother suffered from schizophrenia and she would refuse to take the children to school (or anywhere else) for weeks at a time. Consider this case from the perspective of one of the psychodynamic theorists. What might they consider to be the problem formulation? What interventions or techniques might they use in working with Aaron?