TITLE:
When Dolls’ Play Reveals Relational Distortions
AUTHORS:
Anna-Corinne Bissouma, Madjara A. P. N. Anoumatacky, Regine Assi Kaudjhis
KEYWORDS:
Psychodynamic Analysis, Doll Game, Disturbance of Mother, Daughter Relationship, Abidjan
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.13 No.10,
October
15,
2024
ABSTRACT: In child psychiatry, the use of play, a habitual activity in children, is used as a means of communication and therapy. The psychodynamic reading of a sequence of games played by a three-year-old child with dolls, who had been treated for anorexia for a year at the Children’s Guidance Center of Abidjan, shed new light on the child’s problems. The clinical history of M (3 years old) revealed, in addition to the eating disorder, a disturbance in the attachment bond and parental imagos in distress. This doll game, set up as a copy of reality, enabled the therapist to redirect his treatment and work on the mother-child bond.