There is peace, but no-one gives me peace. A description of a sandplay-therapy with a sexually abused girl

Abstract

The present essay deals with the consequences of real incest and is presented in a single case study. The therapeutic method used is a psychoanalytic approach to sandplay-therapy. The aim of the therapy was to loosen the victim’s personal identification with the aggressor. This identification is expressed by the victim’s paralysing anxiety which stems from her dependency and helplessness at the time of the abuse. Further, it results in a manifestation of those feelings of guilt in the victim which the perpetrator cannot feel himself. In the beginning of the treatment, the ego-strength and the resulting integrative capacity of the then four-and-a-half-year-old girl were the basis of the therapy’s progress. This progress is illustrated by the pictures the child created in the sand. According to Freud, the psychological consequences of such an incestuous relationship reach very far and lead to a lifelong tie between both persons involved. The question raised in this essay is: Is it possible that this tie was loosened or even broken through the therapy?

Keywords:
Incest, psychoanalytic sandplay-therapy, identification of victim to aggressor, inner dynamics, therapy process