ABSTRACT
In this chapter I will describe the case study of an 11-year-old girl, Christine, who began art therapy while resident at the Links Centre where her mother was undertaking a six month rehabilitation programme to overcome a dependency on crack and heroin. The study explores how the issues of dependency and defence between parent and child can become particularly problematic when parents have a history of substance misuse. It considers the defence mechanisms children may use to cope with this situation and how they can be manifest in very concrete forms which mirror those used by the parent.
