ABSTRACT
In children, a symbolic unconscious meaning is sometimes too easily attributed to fixed pseudo-games that are repeated almost automatically and are devoid of fantasy activity. The self-calming strategy is a sort of substitute for the wooden reel game, precisely because the fundamental process of this game (coming and going) could not be established and allow the preservation of the traces of the mother's presence. In adolescence, and in adulthood, the perpetual repetition of musical exercises or sports training exercises can be taken mistakenly for sublimation, an obsessional game or ritual. The muscular and perceptual sensations of self-calming strategies are different from those sought out by anorexic or bulimic patients or by drug addicts, but they have in common the function of replacing representations and affects. Self-calming strategies are thus substituted for forms of autoerotism because they are delibidinalised and, rather than seeking continuity with the object, they seek avoidance of the object relationship.
