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I will try to share some thoughts about this session. I will focus only on the material as it stands, as the little information we are given about this child is too vague for me to make possible links.
In this session Abigail and her therapist are struggling with a new situation, a new therapy room. In the space and time of this new session in a new room, Abigail seems to communicate to her therapist how she is coping. She comes to the session with Doctor Who cards, talking about this humanoid-android who moves through space in his machine, solving problems and putting things right. Possibly Abigail is communicating how difficult it is for her to engage with reality. She might be expressing a wish to identify with a humanoid-alien who travels easily though space and time without having to come to terms with changes, and the conflicts arising from these. Abigail holds onto the shiny cards, maybe a magical tool to defeat the fear of being a human in touch with reality. These cards were given to her by a friend. There are ‘loads’, and they might represent her wish-desire-need to go through life with some omnipotence. Possibly this omnipotence is at the service of survival (Symington, 1985). As we will see, reality puts this girl in touch with challenges that seem catastrophic. The cards might also hold an aspect of the sessions, and her wish for there to be loads of them. Maybe she feels that the sessions are precious to her. It is also possible to think that in Abigail’s mind her therapist might share some of the qualities of Doctor Who: her therapist is not afraid, and ‘travels’ through the space of the old and the new room easily. This might feel reassuring to her.
In the room, as soon as Abigail is exposed to the frustration of the closed box, the identification with Doctor Who collapses. The interaction she has with her therapist about opening and not opening the box has the qualit