Play and Power: (The EFPP Monograph Series)

The power of play, so central to psychoanalytic theory and practice, is conjoined to the social psychological or socio-politically coloured concept of power, giving rise to many fruitful discussions of how these concepts manifest themselves in clinical work with children, groups and adults.The inspiration for this book was the 3-section EFPP conference in Copenhagen in May 2007 with the main theme "Play and Power". At the conference and in the book, this theme is presented both inside and outside the therapeutic space. It is amply illustrated in clinical cases from individual psychotherapies with children and adults and from group analysis. Most of the examples are with hateful or resigned children and adults who have been exposed to extremely damaging or unhelpful environments, and who demonstrate convincingly some of the devastating consequences that abuse of power in the real world may have. Play and power are also explored in the broader context of the community, however. In relation to society at large, psychoanalytic psychotherapy has important contributions to offer society, and we need playful creativity and power to bring forward our knowledge about it.

About the Author :
Liselotte Grunbaum is a registered M.Sc. in psychology, specialist and supervisor of psychotherapy and child psychology, in private practice in Copenhagen. She was a founding member and course organiser of the Danish Association of Psychoanalytic Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and since 1997, has been a supervisor and teacher at the Danish training programme for Psychoanalytic Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists. She organised the child psychotherapy clinic at Aalborg University and is the clinic's supervisor. She is a member of the EFPP research group, former coordinator of this group and of the EFPP's Child and Adolescent Section, and has published a number of articles. Karen Vibeke Mortensen is a registered M.Sc. in Psychology, Dr Paed., and group analyst. She is an honorary Professor of clinical child psychology at Aalborg University and in private practice in Copenhagen. She is a specialist and supervisor of psychotherapy and child psychology and is supervisor and teacher on the Danish training programme for Psychoanalytic Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists. She has extensive teaching and supervision experience and has edited books and articles about various clinical and theoretical subjects. Her doctoral thesis, 'Form and Content in Children's Human Figure Drawings', was published by New York University Press in 1991.

Review :
ContributorsMette KjAer Barfort, Liselotte Grunbaum, Jacinta Kennedy, Monica Lanyado, Chantal Lheureux-Davidse, Karen Vibeke Mortensen, Peter Ramsing, Jacob Segal, Gerhard Wilke