Therapeutic Puppetry

The therapeutic puppet draws on the property of a visible, manipulable and distanceable third party: projection onto an animated object allows the subject to deposit, transform and historicize a psychic content that, in direct speech, would remain inaccessible or too threatening. Heir to ritual and stage traditions (wayang, bunraku, Guignol), it is theorized by Madeleine Lions as distinct from remediation, entertainment and pedagogical activity. It is used with children in severe difficulty and in institutions, as well as in the rehabilitation of aphasia (after stroke or head trauma) from the 1970s onward.

This therapy is covered in detail (principles, indications, protocol, level of evidence) in Volume 6 of the Mémento des Psychothérapies. See the volume.