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This paper was published in Spanish in the 1963 Revista de Psicoanálisis, 20(1), and translated for this book by Ana Pieczanski.
In this chapter I will write about playing, toys and children more than about adults, but much of what is said about the child relates to the adult.
I begin with a clinical experience that revolutionized my position on analysis: the first child I treated analytically. I recall the impact of this encounter and the clear sensation of the vast therapeutic world opening quickly. With this new perspective, theoretical formulations that had only awakened my lukewarm approval become convincing and solid practical realities. The internal object turned into a presence, into something that the child truly carries within. This new world revealed by a sick child in analysis soon led me to conclude that my attitude towards the patient in therapy would have to change.
When I tried to transmit this experience to other colleagues (especially to candidates in supervision) I realized that they had experienced similar situations. But when there was an attempt to translate our findings into a theoretical formulation in a more or less clear and systematic way, our resulting speculations were ambiguous, “impressionistic” and not very useful. For this reason, this theme is the starting point for this chapter.
I will begin with an explanation that I have formulated many times and that is logically unsustainable. It is as follows: Imagine a child in the playroom
during his hour of analysis. This hypothetical child is building a house with wooden blocks. Let us suppose that he is four years old, that the house consists of a simple rectangular wall and that the task is difficult. I am first of all interested in the obvious fact that the child has to “build” his house, block by block, and that this takes him a considerable amount of time.
And now the illogical question is asked: What are the differences between the child that builds his house and the adult