To know or not to know—or how do we know that we know?

Judy Dunn is a researcher studying children’s development. Among her many contributions that are relevant in a story or context, only her empirical studies of children in their normal home environment will be mentioned. The theories of knowledge are therefore important both for establishing the knowledge we use in our practice and for evaluating the usefulness of our contributions to our clients. Increased knowledge is called for from different quarters as a means of presenting more competent, productive, or effective treatments to our clients. The developmental psychology that has dominated clinical psychology has traditionally consisted of variations related to Freudian theories. These have largely been based on experiences with the childhood memories of adult clients, and they have then been included in understanding therapeutic processes with children. Implicit in the theories there is actually also an understanding of the nature of the relationships.