Reimagining Humpty Dumpty with Play’s Therapeutic Action

ABSTRACT

At the center of the Humpty Dumpty fable there is a fall. The efforts to re-integrate Humpty Dumpty after the fall were unsuccessful. Using the metaphor as a frame, the author explores the role of play therapy and by extension, incorporates parents into the work with the child, to facilitate repair from traumatic experience. The repair to the intergenerational relationship in the clinical work described relied on the use of a non-linear dynamic system’s view of the therapeutic action of play benefitting the development of the child. The privileging of the play space in child mental health comes at a time in our cultural dialogue that under appreciates its’ value.

Acknowledgments

Author wishes to thank Marjorie Bosk, Ph.D. for her thoughtful suggestions in this work and to Susan Warshaw, Ed.D. for creating this special issue and for her editorial suggestions on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurel M. Silber

Laurel M. Silber, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Bryn Mawr, PA. She is faculty with the Institute For Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia, President of Section II of Division 39 of the American Psychological Association.