Millikan, Flavia. RELATIONSHIP AND PROCESS IN SANDPLAY: A SELF-PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Millikan, Flavia
RELATIONSHIP AND PROCESS IN SANDPLAY: A SELF-PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Volume 2, Number 1, 1992

KEY WORDS: relationship, sandplay therapy, Dora Kalff, Heinz Kohut, self Psychology, co-transference, transference, counter-transference, “feeling against,” empathy, mirroring, selfobject transference, twinship, idealizing transference, transmuting internalization, sense of efficacy, clinical example.

ABSTRACT: This author relates the similarities between Sandplay Therapy and Self Psychology, by comparing the work of Heinz Kohut, the father of Self Psychology and Dora Kalff, the mother of Sandplay Therapy. Both approaches speak to the importance of the therapist, client relationship, with empathy and mirroring. The relationship of the self-object is described in both therapies. A partial sandplay process is described from the two perspectives.