Play psychotherapy of a profoundly incest abused boy: A Jungian approach.

Abstract

A Jungian play psychotherapy approach to the treatment of a profoundly sexually abused mother-son incest victim is described. Emphasis is placed on (a) the therapeutic alliance, (b) a teleological approach; that is, following the child's play as it unfolds and, (c) the differences between acting- out and acting-in. The play evolved through the following stages: Symbolic and verbal disclosure in the first session; terror and rage; sexual, urination, cleansing, and nurturant themes followed by ego and superego development and latency aged play. The sexual abuse of infants and children has been occurring since time immemorial. When the first author started his psychotherapeutic practice some 28 years ago, there were always a few children on his caseload who had been sexually abused. Now one-half of his practice consists of sexually abused children. Though in the past 10 years our knowledge and research base about these children has vastly improved, much remains to be done in the realm of successful treatment. This paper reviews some of the literature on the sexual abuse of children, describes aspects of a Jungian play psychotherapy treatment paradigm and then gives examples from the successful treatment of a profoundly abused child. This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.