Abstract
My response to Beritzhoff’s paper focuses on the central relationship between play and the development of the self. I argue that her presentation of a set of ideas and clinical techniques for actively fostering a potential play space is courageous in the context of a history of psychoanalytic controversy about the activity of the analyst. I also point out that her effective work with her melancholic patient could apply to many different kinds of patients, as well. I then try to highlight Beritzhoff’s ideas by showing their usefulness in a case of my own—a patient very different from Janet who was able to develop his sense of self through play.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Zoe Grusky
Zoe Grusky, Ph.D., is Faculty and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, as well as a Faculty, Personal and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California.