ABSTRACT
Can the parents of the prince acknowledge that the dragon is dangerous, and will they still be there for the child after he has slain the dragon? Particularly if traumatization took place within the family, the cognitive shift can be a problem as the child has or had a relationship with the abuser. With this test the therapist tries to facilitate the cognitive shift for the child by talking to the parents/abusers and to the child. With the child he can discuss what others might think about him (e.g., on the subject of guilt and control), so that this information is available to the child should a cognitive interweave1 be necessary in the course of trauma processing. When children are in foster care or adopted, contact with the biological parents can sometimes be impossible because they are unknown, dead or cannot be traced. In countries where adoption is common after removal from biological
parents by Child Protective Services, it is customary to terminate contact with the biological parents after the adoption. In those situations this test can seem odd and inappropriate.
