Evolution of Children's Play and Trauma Sequelae in the Context of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Two Single-Case...

The unpredictability and insecurity inherent in family contexts of neglect and abuse can compromise the development of a child's representational capacities and impair their ability to engage in play activities during psychotherapy sessions. This study seeks to address the lack of empirical data used to document the evolution of play in traumatized children undergoing psychodynamic psychotherapy. To this end, this research aims to describe the evolution of traumatic play in two children within psychodynamic psychotherapy: an 8-year-old girl who has experienced early relational trauma and a boy aged 3 years and 10 months who has experienced episodic physical abuse. Play data (segmentation of activity type, play categories and traumatic play) from these children were obtained from video recordings of the psychotherapy sessions and rated using the Children's Play Therapy Instrument, according to an individual intraparticipant replication protocol. Visual examination of the data revealed trends and changes in the children's play. In particular, both children are able to play during longer segments and make greater use of pretending. As the sessions progress, the children's play also appears more coherent, less easily interrupted and more organized by a narrative. However, the results suggest a slower and more complex evolution of the severity of traumatic play, compared with other features of play. The present study enables us to identify, on an exploratory basis, certain clinical indicators of a favourable evolution in psychotherapy.