ABSTRACT
The statement above was made in a spirit of protest by a psychotic child, reproaching her therapist. The child had invented a race of beings called ‘collapstis’; in her drawings they resembled traffic lights, and made one think of the sort of robots who feature in children’s television programmes. They were an obsessional preoccupation. The hapless therapist, who was well aware that ‘collapstis’ were a representation of a barely-human aspect of her child patient, had lapsed into a too-concrete response to a communication about collapstis and thus failed to sustain the distinction between internal and external reality. Imagine her delight when the child asserted her capacity for clear thinking. This is an instance of a treasured moment in psychotherapy when a psychotic patient comes right out of the apparent prison of phantasy and engages directly with the therapist. A reminder that even the maddest child has the potential for everyday good sense.
