‘What do you do with a Mummy like that?’ Using symbolic play to disempower a persecutory sadistic maternal object

This paper looks at the creation of narrative in the treatment of a 10-year-old girl. It will explore how psychodynamic, psychoanalytically informed work can help a child whose internalized narrative structure seemed built to harbour violent, unpredictable and psychopathic objects. It will examine how close and vigilant observation of a child's internalized storyline and choice of figurines/symbols can lead to more compassion and thoughtful personification in play, and how this in turn can lead not only to the facilitation of creativity around a more coherent storyline, but also the opportunity for the therapist to ‘co-author’ a different trajectory for the figurines, and outcome. Whilst the analysis will concentrate on the patient's internal world, it will extend to a discussion about the blurred lines between truth and play. The paper will present the examination and participation of symbolic play as a highly useful device for a therapist in shifting a child's interiority, in this case enough for the patient to be self-determining in their external world.