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IN the first chapter of this book I have tried to show, on the one hand, what special psychological mechanisms we find operative in the small child as distinct from the adult when we come to analyse it, and, on the other, what parallels exist between the two, and I have explained that it is at once these differences and these similarities which necessitate a special technique and which have led me to develop my method of Play Analysis.
On a low table in my analytic room there are laid out a number of small toys of a primitive kind—little wooden men and women, carts, carriages, motor-cars, trains, animals, bricks and houses, as well as paper, scissors and pencils. Even a child that is usually inhibited in its play will at least glance at the toys or touch them, and will soon give me a first glimpse into its complexive life by the way in which it begins to play with them or lays them aside, or by its general attitude towards them.
In order to get a clear idea of the principles of play technique let us turn to an actual case. Peter, aged three and three-quarters, was very difficult to manage. He was strongly fixated upon his mother and very ambivalent. He was unable to tolerate frustrations, was totally inhibited in play and gave the impression of being an extremely timid, plaintive and unboyish child. At times his behaviour would be aggressive and overbearing, and he got on badly with other children, especially with his younger brother. His analysis was intended to be chiefly a prophylactic