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 is currently a popular concept in psychoanalysis and Steven Cooper is arguably the most prolific proponent of redefining the analytic process from this perspective. He acknowledges the contributions of contemporaries like Benjamin,1 Civitarese,2 Pizer,3 and Ringstrom,4 but his chief inspiration clearly emanates from Winnicott’s pioneering conceptualization of play in the treatment of both children and adults. Cooper does an admirable job of elucidating his own position, while expanding Winnicott’s ideas, weaving them into the fabric of contemporary theory on transference-countertransference, with a particular emphasis on the role of enactment. There is ample room for this kind of modern interpretation and application of Winnicott’s thoughts about play, given that he deliberately left the term very loosely defined. Cooper (p. 37) quotes Winnicott, writing:
Winnicott (1968a5) described the operation of play in a general way as follows: