Steven B. Herrmann
Journal of Sandplay Therapy
Volume 16, Issue 2, 2007
Keywords
trauma-defense, complex, liquidation, Sandplay therapy, dreams, male, boy, child, persecutory, archaiac, mother-imago, terror, joy, integration, shame, bedwetting, emotional states, symbolization, metamorphosis
Abstract
In this article the author describes the dreams and sandtray pictures of a four to 9-year-old boy. Through a series of sandplay images, he examines the emotional interaction between a terrified boy identified with the figure of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and a persecuting archaic mother-imago identified by the boy with the terrorizing Wicked Witch of the West in that movie. Over the course of Willy’s therapy the affects of the terrified boy/terrifying witch object come together in his psyche and with this integration the embarrassing and shaming symptom of bedwetting is eliminated. A shift in the patient’s emotional states, from terror into joy, is symbolized by sand pictures and dreams depicting the liquidation of the witch and Willy’s metamorphosis.
Suggested Citation
Herrmann, S. B. (2007). The transformation of terror into joy. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.61711/jst.2007.16.2.270
