Maria de Paula Machado, Zilda
RECOVERING THE FEMININE IDENTITY IN SANDPLAY THERAPY

Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 19, Number 1, 2010

KEY WORDS: Sandplay, parental complex, feminine identity, Brazil, Europe, ego-Self, clinical example, woman, female, verbal analysis, parental complex, ego-Self dissociation, marital relationship, increased consciousness, Sandplay therapy, clinical examples, common themes, symbolic, mourning, depression, anxiety, shell assemblage, single unique shell, shell combinations, sculpted sand spiral, relationship to the Self.

ABSTRACT: The author presents a verbal analysis with sandplay therapy of a female patient with a negative parental complex that prevented her from assuming a more developed feminine identity and an ego-Self dissociation was keeping her from personal growth. She needed to find her true identity and her own values. Her first marriage (lesser coniunctio) was an unconscious attempt at healing but did not meet the aspirations of the patient’s unconsciousness. She needed to release the energy repressed in the parental complex. After the restoration of the ego-Self, the patient could engage in a new marital relationship (new coniunctio), this time more consciously.