Abstract

SANT'ANNA, Paulo Afrânio et al. The expression of psychological conflicts in dermatological infections: a case study of a vitiligo patient treated by sandplay. Psicol. teor. prat. [online]. 2003, vol.5, n.1, pp. 81-96. ISSN 1516-3687.

This paper is about a case study of a brief psychotherapeutic sandplay process with a vitiligo barrier patient. Based on analytical psychology theory that understands the disease as part of the psychological self regulation process, it discusses the symbolic nature of the skin and its pathological expressions. During the ten psychotherapeutic sessions an evolution of the initial situation was observed through the symptoms displacement and the increase of imaginative abilities. Sandplay scenes building helps shadow aspects of the patient personality to became more conscious. Psychological characteristics described in literature are observed, such as the conflictive relation with the mother’s figure, the appearance of the symptoms after an emotional stress due to situation of loss and so on. At the end of the psychotherapeutic process the interruption of the vitiligo stain development was observed.

Keywords : Vitiligo; Sandplay; Analytical Psychology; Psychosomatic; Skin.

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