Discussion of “Life on Her Own Terms: A Story of Reclamation”

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.