ABSTRACT
Play has the power to transform. It can be liberating, aggressive, sad, satisfying, illuminating, angry, anarchic, funny and beautiful. Playing can be the bridge to pleasure, joy and internal freedom. Play, as a vital form of communication, created the pathway for the transformations that Gail was able to make in her life. The ordinary development of a capacity to play takes time. The chapter presents the idea that play is a very powerful vehicle for therapeutic change. Power, in the sense of power-play within the therapeutic relationship, is likely to obscure the freedom of expression of either patient and/or therapist and to be anti-therapeutic. Playing is present in ideas, in cultural activity, in relaxation and pleasure. It continues throughout life, in adult games with rules, in sexual games and foreplay, in a sense of humour. There are many kinds of play, for example, defensive play, boring play and stuck play which is diversions along the way.
