sychoanalytic play therapy is mindful of the symbols in the
child’s play, which is a manifestation of the unconscious mind.
The key concept of this theory is the exploration of the unconscious.
The psychoanalytic community tends to view the therapist’s role
more as a professional posture than the use of a specific technique.
Attention is focused on a child’s anxieties, defenses, and fantasies (as
they appear in play and verbalizations).
Basic Tenets
Psychoanalytic play therapy finds its foundations in the works
of Sigmund Freud, Hermine Hug-Hellmuth, Margaret Lowenfeld,
Anna Freud, and Melanie Klein (Punnett, 2016). For the Freudian
psychoanalyst, “the personality develops out of the need to fulfill
the pleasure principle, all the while attempting to negotiate reality
demands without incurring superego strictures” (Lee, 1997, p. 46).
Although Freud never worked with children, his followers extended the
theories to include models suited for work with children and adolescents.
Object relations theory, ego psychology, and self psychology expande d
on Freud’s concepts (Abraham, 1994; Blanck & Blanck, 1979, 1994;
Kernberg, 1976, 1980; Klein, 1969, 1975; Kohut, 1971, 1977, 1978). These
subsequent modifications are generally referred to as psychodynamic
psychotherapies—a way of working with children that considers both
the psychoanalytic and analytic traditions.
Psychoanalytic theory conceptualizes clients’ difficulties according
to Freud’s developmental stages: oral, anal, and phallic stages. The
hallmark is the resolution of the Oedipal conflict during this last
phase, and the major components of the personality are developed by
the end of the Oedipal period. During the latency period (6 years old to
puberty), changes are consolidated. During the last phase, the genital
stage, from adolescence onward, the primary task is to develop an
intimate relationship.
Psychopathology and Client Dysfunction
Psychopathology occurs with the development of an overly
strong preference for any one instinct (a fixation), which could
lead to potential regression in times of stress. When the therapist
P
Play Therapy
encounters a child’s regression, s/he looks for the underlying period
of inadequate satisfaction in the child’s life. Anna Freud observed
blockages in a child’s progression of development as the underlying
cause of psychopathology; the goal of psychotherapy, then, is the
removal of these blockages so a natural healthy development can
proceed. According to psychoanalytic theory, removing blockages
occurs by carefully interpreting the defenses, and later the drives, as
repressed material becomes more conscious.
In psychoanalytic psychology, problems are viewed as disturbances
when regulating impulses between the id, ego, superego. The ego
fails at regulating the demands of the id, the superego, and the
external reality. This leads to anxiety and maladaptive defenses/
behaviors. There are periods of deintegration and integration, that
is, anxiety followed by the reestablishment of a steady state, or
regulation. As the child grows, this interactive field brings the child
into the mother-child adaptive relationship with the environment.
Thus, growth moves from instinct-centeredness to ego-centeredness
with resultant failures evidenced in developmental disorders and
illnesses. Psychological growth occurs when a child relies less on the
id or pleasure principle and more on the ego or “I,” as we know it, to
make more logical decisions.
Applying the Theory
Muriel (pseudonym) was an upper-elementary school-aged African-
American female residing in the southern US. She was referred for
| AUDREY PUNNETT, PHD, RPT-S, CST-T/ISST & ERIC J. GREEN, PHD, LPC-S, RPT-S, SP
PSYCHOANALYTIC
In psychoanalytic psychology,
problems are viewed as
disturbances when regulating
impulses between the id, ego,
superego. The ego fails at regulating
the demands of the id, the superego,
and the external reality.
Play Therapy, 14(3), 46-48 . / September 2019 / www.a4p t.org
