ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a dynamic play therapy approach with children who struggle with panic, anxiety and phobias. The approach combines aggressive and cathartic play with a great dose of levity, based in part on the work of DW Winnicott, Alexander Lowen and Carl Jung, but also on an understanding that has emerged from my 43 years of working with children. The myth of the Greek god Pan, from which the idea of panic arose, will be used as a means of considering what is happening when a child panics, what is missing in their defence system and ego development that a dynamic play approach can resolve. Ideas explored include “the power and function of no”, “the need to discharge negative aggressivity safely” and “regression in the service of the ego”. The chapter uses case material, anecdote and technique.
