Anxiety, Depression, Obsessions are often signs of deeper conflicts, trauma and fear. These symptoms interfere with optimal functioning, healthy relationships and free, uninhibited expression of our creative and spontaneous selves.
Psychoanalysis is a collaborative effort; an alliance of minds, unconscious and conscious in deep effort to afford a person an opportunity to elaborate their "personal idioms" ; to experience their most genuine self possible.
Working in Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is an opportunity to enter into the "inner world" of a person; to experience the internal labyrinth of the mind. The goal of any worthy psychotherapy, whether play or talk ought be to assist a person to open up, express their feelings and widen their capacities to fully realize and experience their maximum potential.
Sand Trays of Child Patients, Beijing; New York.
"These are the Gods!. They are all Gods, aren't they, the Buddha, Superman and Batman?" But, the tower watches us all."
Who is the boy? I ask.
"I dunno. Maybe me... It is how I feel when I miss my father." (R, 9 y/o)
"the house is surrounded by a fence. But, it has openings for people to come and go. The forest is full."
"There are creatures that come up from the water. And snakes, that dig into the ground. The Buddha hides his face." (T, 11 y/o)
"The thing about playing is always the precariousness of the interplay of personal psychic reality and the experience of control of actual objects. This is the precariousness of magic itself, magic that arises in intimacy, in a relationship that is found to be reliable...When a patient cannot play the therapist must attend to this major symptom before interpreting fragments of behavior." D.W. Winnicott
Adolescents relate to external realities. I help them to relate to their internal world.
" I am not sure if any one can really understand me", C, 17y/o
"I simply do not know where I belong...", A, 16y/o
"It feels so stupid, but I feel so different..."
" Immaturity is an essential element of health. There is only one cure for immaturity and that is the Passage of time and the growth into maturity that time may bring...Immaturity is a precious part of the adolescent scene. In this is contained the most exciting features of creative thought, new and fresh feeling, ideas for new living. "
D.W.Winnicott
In my analytic work with children, I utilize Play Therapy, Art and Sand tray in an effort to explore, hold and contain the experiences of a child's inner world.
"This is how I wish my family could be." (Z, 8 y/o)