ABSTRACT
“Once upon a time…” is a storytelling projective technique for children. The stimuli are presented as pictures in a cartoon format, and the task is to complete the story. To do so, the children must choose some drawn scenes, organize them in sequence, and then tell the story they have organized. The purpose of this technique is to describe the way children deal with their emotions—namely, anxiety and pleasure—in a transitional space (Winnicott, 1971) between reality and fantasy. In psychodynamic theories, emotions are considered creators and organizers of all mental processes (Leal, 1975); they are present since birth and affect the way children understand the surrounding world and build their inner interactions. This technique is used with children from 5 to 11 years old and requires between 20 and 30 minutes for administration.
