Intersections between Psychoanalysis and Schizoanalysis: What Can Play Do in Child Therapy?

Abstract

This article presents a critical comparison between psychoanalysis and schizoanalysis regarding children’s play and its role in clinical management and listening. The study was developed through a narrative literature review, drawing on classical texts from both perspectives, as well as contemporary literature addressing play in clinical practice with children. In both approaches, play emerges as a production of multiple realities. This shared assemblage and intersection allowed us to understand play as two complementary processes: creation and forgetting. As a creative process, play unfolds in its own temporality, where the time of the unconscious (logical) and the time of creation (Aión) converge. Play is, therefore, a privileged space-time for the manifestation of the unconscious, enabling the child to explore, experiment, and, above all, (re)create. Through this creative process, the child processes their experiences, re-signifying them and constructing new psychic territories not predetermined by adults.