It is in the realm of language where much of the psychoanalytic work with adults that we describe with Winnicott as playing together takes place. This is where the subjective inner reality and the objective outer reality of patient and analyst come together and can (as in the much-described joint play with metaphors) set in motion a therapeutic process that promotes development. However, this process of playing and understanding can also come to an abrupt halt and break down. On the basis of two case studies, I explore this clinical phenomenon and conclude that it is not language itself, but the use of language in the sense of an unconscious scene, that opens up access to emotional reality in the analytical session.

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