ABSTRACT

This chapter contains a brief analysis of some of the interactional problems encountered by therapists in a children's hospital, and the kinds of solutions they routinely devised. It argues that this knowledge contains a central ambiguity about children's 'essential nature', and this ambiguity is reflected in the way they were handled and talked about by therapists. The chapter distinguishes games therapists play with children, or allow the children to play, and those 'games' that have a hidden therapeutic objective. It presents some examples of the game framework in use, and the problems of its implementation. Play is commonly held to be a constitutive part of a child's identity. The world of childhood in this model is not separate and equal but an inferior early stage from which one progresses to adulthood. Since therapy may last for several years, the therapeutic encounter may stabilise as children learn the routines and develop a more intimate relationship with the therapists.