In and Out of the Displacement: The Roles of Interpretation and Play in Work with Children

Abstract

Play is one form of displacement through which children and their therapists can create meaning and new ways of understanding affects, fantasies, and conflicts. This article explores the technical question of the relation between working in the arena of displacements and interpretations aimed at establishing connections between past and present. A clinical vignette illustrates the use of a variety of displacement modes in the analytic work of a preadolescent boy.

KEYWORDS:

• displacement
• play
• interpretation
• technique

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this article was given as a workshop presentation for the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute, March, 6, 2010.

Notes

1. I have altered some details of Kevin's productions in order to preserve confidentiality. While I tried to do so in a way that remains as faithful as possible to the essence of the original creations, I regret that some of my patient's uniquely apt elements are lost in the translation.

2. Freud published his case of The Rat Man the same year as that of Little Hans. The Rat Man also related the tale of the rat torture and Freud identified the underlying anal eroticism behind his patient's conscious horror. In addition, he connected the idea of rats with thoughts related to biting, money, venereal disease, and wishes for children (1909c, pp. 213–217).