| Abstrakt: |
This paper begins with the proposal that there are certain essential processes of therapy, including play as the renegotiation of self-other relationships that are fully present in work with children. This leads to a discussion of historical material about the use of play in analytic work with children, associated with the emergence of ideas about the analytic work with children as a "less pure" form of analysis. The paper then presents a theoretical discussion of play as a continuous and basic function in psychoanalysis, where play is seen as a way of engagement, which includes both the negotiation of paradox and the capacity for the use of metaphor in treatment. This is associated with a brief discussion of play as non-linear versus non-play as linear, reflected in more general theories about essentialist versus more relational, constructivist approaches to treatment. Vignettes from analytic work conducted with two young persons in residential care then illustrate how play can function as an essential process of therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
