Introduction: The Case of “Hey Toy Man”

In this special issue of Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, we have the privilege of reading about a child treatment from the skilled therapist Henry Kronengold. In generously sharing the rich case of ‘Hey Toy Man’ (the patient's name for her therapist), Kronengold opens a wonderful window into the expansive world of play, and admirably shows us a therapeutic endeavor full of ups and downs. He does this with eloquent descriptions of the unfolding drama, play-by-play accounts laden with suspense, and gives the reader a sense of his own private dialogue in relation to the patient's play. He does not attempt to cover over the blemishes, but instead leaves in the messy stuff and, by doing so, invites us into his struggle, one that is familiar to all of us who grow from this work. We are quite fortunate to have a select group of seasoned analysts discussing this case material from various perspectives, each of whom has focused on a slightly different aspect of the treatment. The case discussants are (alphabetically) Peter Carnochan, Elsa First, Jo Lang, and Susan Warshaw. Following the discussions, Kronengold offers a reply to some of the points raised by the four discussants.

Kronengold's detailed description of his work includes more process than is commonly seen in today's journals. His case raises interesting questions regarding technique, theory, and the place of play therapy in the field of contemporary child psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. It also explores the extent to which therapists rely on the implicit communication that goes on within the metaphor of the play, as opposed to making explicit comments and interpretations about the play's embedded symbolic meaning(s) and their connections to the child's inner life, interpersonal world, and evolving relationship with the analyst.

The perennial question that we all ask ourselves is relevant here: what is mutative in child therapy? Is play, in all its complexity and dimensionality, and the rela