Playing and telling stories

possibilities to organize the experience

Abstract

The author proposes to study the therapeutic function of telling stories and playing by using an activity called Imagination. Such activity implies that the patient will make drawings – that will compose a book – inspired by a story told by the therapist. The author conceives the narrative according to Walter Benjamin’s idea of transmitting and organizing the experience. She remarks the double sense pointed by Benjamin of the German word Spielen (to play and to play a role) in which the nature of both playing a role and having fun is “to do again and again”, thus allowing to turn a devastating experience into a habit. Therefore, in the example given, the patient was able to find another destiny because he repeated the traumatic situation. Moreover, the author brings Benjamin’s vision close to Winnicott’s proposition which emphasizes the therapeutic function of playing.