"Where could paul street boys play?" child psychotherapy as co-construction of a playground

In this clinical paper, I present the development of the foundation of a child psychoanalytic treatment to explain in clinical terms what it means to build a "playground," a place where a child could go to play. The aim of the paper, with references to Paul Street Boys, a famous novel by Ferenc Molnár, a Hungarian contemporary of Sándor Ferenczi, is to use the metaphor of the "playground" for describing how, thanks to his personal use of the setting, and thanks to the development of the relationship with the therapist, a traumatized child could gradually begin to build, together with the therapist, a place unknown in his past.

The contribution of Harold F. Searles to an emerging therapeutic relationship with a chronic schizophrenic man

The article describes the personal experience of the author, the development of a nontherapeutic relationship with a deeply regressed man, inspired and developed side by side with the study and the knowledge of the writings of Harold F. Searles. At the beginning of this experience, the author had just begun his university education in psychology. He found inspiration and self-confidence reading articles Searles wrote during his time at Chestnut Lodge. The experience of the author, developed out of theoretical models and knowledge, demonstrates that it is possible to engage psychotic people without formal psychotherapeutic training, accepting and sharing the idiosyncratic behavior of the other in a spontaneous and quiet way, using intuition and empathy.