ABSTRACT
Peter Ramsing’s has illustrated an accommodating, containing and playful response, principally aimed at the developmental meaning for the two individuals engaged in the acting out, which appeared intuitive, empathic and clinically containing. There is positive play where the adult can accept the as-if quality of the therapeutic space as real, and as a playground, according to Peter, and also negative play, described by A. Green which is imbued with destructiveness and domination, but which is also capable of changing reality into something else. In the move from concrete reality to the as-if mode, there is something inherently playful in all forms of analysis. Nevertheless, in group analysis, the potential for play may be even greater due to the nature of the free-floating discussion and how members’ narratives interweave in the matrix. A further issue which might be explored is the use of a gender-specific model of development to interpret defence mechanisms in the group.
