Merlino, Marcella
CHANGE, TIME AND PHOTOGRAPHY: VISUAL NARRATIVES OF A THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP
Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 18, Number 1, 2009
Keywords: altered rhythms, moment of truth, routine, fleeting moment, Photographing, memory, cyclic repetitions, stability, sandplay, clinical example, adult, male, heroin, drug, addict, public clinic, addiction, mandated therapy, visual, narrative, time.
Abstract: The author reflects on the clinical case of a young heroin addict undergoing therapy with sandplay at a public clinic for the treatment of drug addicts. The patient, through sandplay, was able to transform the obligation to undergo therapy imposed by the authorities into a personal request for help. The three years of psychotherapeutic work and use of the sandtray led the patient for some years to put a distance between himself and the use of heroin, and to radically change, even when he periodically went back to heroin, his way of life. Several important themes from the clinical case presented are examined, in particular the importance of photographing the sandtrays for the therapeutic process and how the disturbed way of experiencing time by the patient is revealed by his story and especially his work with the sand.