Recognizing defenses in the drawings and play of children in therapy

Children's drawings and play have long been recognized as rich repositories of symbolic material derivative of infantile sexual fantasy. That view is based predominantly on the early drive theory approach to the interpretation of dreams with an almost exclusive focus on symbolic content. In an effort to broaden the interpretive skills available to the child therapist, this article places the content of children's drawings and play into the background and brings the defensive processes into higher relief. It addresses the defenses in children's play and even more so the defenses in children's drawings. Without creating a simplistic formula, the author offers examples of ways to recognize defenses in children's drawings and play based on observations from clinical practice.