"Sono innamor(a)to della terra". Note su gioco, disegno, sogno e terapie diversionali nella cura di bambini con gravi patologie fisiche

Severely ill children live difficult emotions they should be able to tell and been listened, with the freedom of being able to stay in touch with an unavoidable pain without being "forced to feel good" or "to have fun" as an escape from the experience. Quality of care is also measured on how much the child's suffering may have room to express itself in the relationships with adults, and how the latter address the psychological quality of life. The best way a child can "talk" about himself is through spontaneous creativity. The adult's task is to create a potential space and to recognize the child's mode of communication, tolerating the most intense affects. The loss of these affects would be an additional burden to the child. The most valid indicator of this attitude is the ability not to take counterphobic attitudes, but to share moments of sadness as an expression of contact with the child's true self, as real signs of good health and emotional maturity.