This case report details the psychological counseling of a kindergarten-aged boy who presented with excessive attachment to his mother, intense sibling rivalry with his elder brother, and overly ingratiating behaviors towards his parents. During the counseling process, the therapist innovatively combined the fantasy animal game with the mutual storytelling technique. Six sessions were conducted, utilizing four different fantasy animal drawings and their corresponding stories to understand the changes and development within the child's inner world. The fantasy animal game, founded by Handler, is a form of expressive arts therapy that employs projective drawing and story creation, particularly suitable for children and clients with lower levels of emotional developmental. In the sessions, the therapist combined this technique with mutual storytelling, jointly creating a "tailor-made" story with the child based on elements the child generated. This story not only encompassed the client's core conflicts but also, by uncovering the child's own positive internal resources, offered more possibilities and solutions. Ultimately, through the fantasy animal game, the therapist identified the root causes of the client's distress and helped him transform his competitive relationship with his brother into one of imitation and learning, thereby alleviating his excessive attachment to his mother and overly ingratiating behaviors towards his parents. This case demonstrates the applicability of the fantasy animal game for younger clients and its special value as a creative and metaphor-rich intervention in promoting children's emotional expression and behavioral change.
ZHANG Xiaojing
,
JIN Ying
,
GAO Jiahui
,
YAN Wenhua
. Invisible Duoduo: Storytelling Therapy Through the Fantasy Animal Game Technique[J]. Psychological Communications, 2025
, 8(2)
: 174
-181
.
DOI: 10.12100/j.issn.2096-5494.225024
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