Paul’s Tale: A Clinical Tale in Three Parts

Abstract

Paul’s tale elucidates the struggles encountered by adult therapist/child patient dyads in their efforts to connect, and to co-create a safe space where growth and integration can emerge and consolidate. This is a dynamic, dyadic tale of bidirectional self and self-with-other regulation that unfolds across explicit and procedural dimensions of experience. The article highlights three pivotal clinical moments in a 7-year treatment. The ongoing clinical process and abrupt termination speaks both to the potential and to the transience of clinical process by elucidating the limits of co-creation and co-destruction.

Keywords:

• child psychotherapy
• clinical process
• developmental
• parent consultation
• play therapy
• termination

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jackie Gotthold

Jackie Gotthold, Psy.D., is a faculty member, supervisor, and training analyst at the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York; is a faculty member and supervisor at the Minnesota Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy; is a member of the International Council for the Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology; and a board member of the American Psychological Association’s Division 39, Section II (Child and Adolescent Section), and IARPP’s child and adolescent initiative. Jackie practices in New York City treating children, adolescents, and adults.