Journal Potuguese Release - February 2024 - Flipbook - Page 44
43
This new character emerged in the next face-to-face meeting3 as a pictorial
document relating to the ludic context in which the father's presence was greatly
appreciated by all. We understand that the Ghost of Play is like a guardian of the
family that helps to keep calm, that's why it's blue. He likes to play ball in the
square and makes everyone move away from the television. In this way, just as
Daniel's ghosts are metamorphosing from enemies to friends, is the child building,
through his creative-reflective art, a communication that transforms his fierce
issues into requests? And aren't externalizing conversations themselves a way of
understanding through play, generating experience, producing changes, and
accessing preferable selves for everyone involved in the conversations? And yet,
from conversations about externalizing the problem, we were able to move into
conversations that externalized solutions and hope: the ghost that calms people
down and another that invites affective relationships through play.
In one of the phone contacts I had with Aurora, I sent a picture of the Ghost of
Play and wrote: “Look who is here saying to me: Adriana, will Daniel accept me at
his house? He loves to be distracted by movies on television, but I wanted to play
ball with him!! I need to play with some kids today.” A few minutes later I
received a message from the boy: “I accepted”. And also an audio: “Hi tía, (...) my
father and my mother taught me to play tennis...”. Continuing the conversation, I
replied: “Oh! Our Ghost of Play is certainly watching you play, having fun, and
cheering for you!”
Other ghosts began to appear, like a certain Ghost of Complaint. The Ghost of
Fury’s visits ceased, but the latter, a “cousin” of the former, kept confusing Daniel
and led him to whine and make difficult situations where he would have to attend
to his school obligations more promptly during the pandemic. This one not only
imprisoned the children, but also managed to dominate the parents; he was no
longer exactly evil, but rather, very tiring. In the meeting in which Aurora and
Daniel participated, we reflected that such a ghost feeds on endless quarantines.
People were left without entertainment, without friends, and locked up at home,
the preferred environment of the Ghost of Complaint. They fed on unhappiness
and boredom and deceive the children, making them feel wronged and burdened.
They have fun when the mothers become impatient and irritable. How unfair!
3
Face-to-face meetings with the participation of Daniel began to take place on a monthly basis. Virtual contacts
were maintained according to Aurora's needs, but they were not enough to reassure her.
The Bad and the Good Ghosts: A Story of Reauthoring in Narrative Therapy with Children
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, February 2024 Release, www.journalnft.com, p. 2446.