You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Play Interview Therapy of Castration Fears. Jacob H. Conn.
This paper describes how the play interview is applied to the problem of castration fears in children. The play is directed by degrees to the study of 'sex awareness'. The first discussion is of the coming of a new baby. A baby doll lying in a toy crib is put on the table and several dolls representing siblings or friends are placed nearby. The therapist, pointing to one of the dolls, asks the child what it wants to know about the baby. If no spontaneous curiosity about origin is voiced, the therapist asks, 'Which one of the dolls wants to know where babies come from?'. He points to various dolls in succession, inquiring, 'What does he say?', 'What does she say?'. Thus the child is induced to carry on a dialogue between the dolls and voices 'personal opinions' only if it chooses to do so. Treatment of a thirteen-year-old boy with severe castration anxiety defended against by feminine identification is described. The problem was apparently alleviated in eighteen play interviews with little or no interpretation.