The Body-Self as Revealed in the Sandplays of Traumatised Children

The Body-Self as Revealed in the Sandplays of Traumatised Children

This paper aims to describe a particular aspect within the Sandplay processes of young children who have experienced early trauma and disrupted attachments. The aspect in question relates to the experience of the self in the body and how this is expressed symbolically. Our first sense of self is strongly related to early bodily experiences within the context of attachment relationships. Traumatised children, who usually display insecure or disorganised attachment profiles, may have complex somatic difficulties. They may feel lack awareness or physical control over parts of their bodies. They may experience somatic stress that they do not understand. This paper attempts to explore these issues with reference to Jungian Sandplay Therapy. Child developmental issues are discussed from both a Jungian and a neurodevelopmental perspective. The paper examines the different stages of body-self integration as presented in the typical Sandplay processes of children with significantly elevated stress-responses. What is expressed by the children in symbolic language is the feeling of being contained or uncontained, of fragmentation, of gathering and organising unintegrated parts of the self and of having the body-self stand on its own independently. Awareness of having been in danger and the question of whether one has really been rescued, tend to permeate the Sandplay processes of vulnerable children. Finally, some suggestions are made as to how to provide support though this stage in a child’s therapeutic journey.