Blood and love

In this clinical presentation both transgenerationally transmitted and directly inflicted trauma are examined as constituents in the psychic life of a gifted little girl called Natalia. Her attempts to eroticise and thus modulate those aspects of her experience which have deformed her play processes are described and the ways in which the analysis served to help her both recognise and regulate this material is detailed. The paper is organised around material from the opening phase of the work, the play which characterised the middle of the analysis and the examination of an essay which the patient wrote in the closing phase. The central role of affect for each participant in the analytic work is stressed as a pivotal component of the play process.