Winnicott's improvised game for meeting a child: one person draws a spontaneous squiggle, the other turns it into something, and then they swap. Over a few rounds the drawings become a shared, unforced conversation about what's really going on inside.
Why it works
Play sits in the space between two people — neither wholly inner nor wholly outer — and that is exactly where a real self can show itself. By working through images rather than direct questions, the game lowers defences and lets feelings that resist words find a form.
How it's done
A few moves that carry the method — in a therapy room, or in small ways, on your own.
With a child (or a guarded friend), swap three squiggles each and see what the pictures start to say.
Who shaped it
From method to habit
Psipas turns the simplest of these techniques into a daily ritual — one question, one answer, a picture that grows.
