Oda, Takao. Aggression and Containment in Sandplay

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Oda, Takao. Aggression and Containment in Sandplay

Volume 6, Number 2, 1997 (Volume VI, Number 2, 1997)

KEY WORDS: aggression, containment, sandplay therapy, clinical example, alchemy, vessel, depression, bulimia, splitting, subtle body, participation mystique.

ABSTRACT: A case study of a woman and therapist’s search for the alchemical vessel to transform aggression and woundedness.

This 38 year old Japanese woman is diagnosed with Borderline Personality disorder. Her expressed symptoms include: depression, suicidal ideation, bulimia, inability to work. She is being treated with an antidepressant.

This sandplay process reveals her attempts to break fused dependency experienced with her parents and with the therapist. The therapist must psychically experience his own aggression and woundedness with the patient in his imagination to contain their wounds and aggression. The constellation of the containing vessel in the work of the tray activated the healing of the splitting population.

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