Through a sample of drawings collected from one family (legally separated), I presented my work with children with alienating behaviours; I uncovered a wealth of unique insights that can be gleaned from children’s drawings alongside their parents’ drawings. These insights, which can significantly aid practitioners in understanding how alienation is manifested in both the parents and the child’s psyche, serve as a powerful tool for the analyst. They provide profound insights into the depth of the parent’s conscious or unconscious psychological maltreatment of the child. Furthermore, the analyst can observe how the psychic energy in the child loses objectivity and only subjective behaviours manifest, which are unique to this phenomenon. The relevant underpinnings of Jungian analytical theory are applied to understanding this phenomenon, offering a fresh perspective on how best to intervene when the regression to the parental imago and the disturbance occurring within the archetype of the child only encounter more hostile unconscious forces that may potentially harm the child.
Anxieties and Forms of Resilience