ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the child’s struggles between acting out her aggressive feelings towards the newborn and retreating into a “private space” shared with the observer, where she was able to restrain herself from impulse to action and to symbolize her feelings in play. In this case, by contrast, due to the tragedy of the baby’s death, the focus is more on the inner mourning process as reflected in the child’s play, drawings, verbalizations, and use of stories. Through them, one can follow the development of the mourning process from its initial state, characterized by strong persecutory feelings and depression, to the attainment of a more depressive state and of reparative capacities. The observer has been a discreet and sensitive witness over the year of the emotional turmoil and upheaval faced by Giorgia as she navigates through oedipal conflicts.
