ABSTRACT
Therapists must develop and foster within themselves a keen awareness of the wider issues before beginning to contemplate the use of photographs in therapy. The royal family obviously treasures its photographs as much as any family would. These, however, have an additional function; they simultaneously document the history of a family and that of a nation’s monarchy. Photographs provide a way of keeping visual recollections of the past safe from the dulling grasp of time. Many primitive peoples refuse to be photographed, fearing that they will be robbed of their soul by the camera’s sorcery and be bewitched by its voodoo. The images it produces are seen as having an influence far beyond themselves, able to weave and cast magic spells. The photograph may have been attached to the doll, creating a vividly personalised symbol on which to work for good or ill.
