Play Changes Us: Playing the Object, Becoming the Analyst

Abstract

The manner in which play changes us is examined, with particular attention to the role of paradox. Sustaining paradox and illusory experiencing are held as key to the framework of psychoanalysis for patient and analyst alike. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which the analyst becomes a potential object of change through playing. The transitive hospitality of playing is examined in the treatment of a four-year-old boy, and in his resurrection of a near-dead mother and her neglected child. This treatment is examined in order to better understand the preoccupation of playing within illusion, as opposed to quickly naming play content. Playing is itself transformative, prior to any reflection or interpretation that may follow.