Review: Verena Bertignoll (2006). Kinder leben Märchen [Children Live Fairytales]

Authors

  • Armine Roth Université de Fribourg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.1.1241

Keywords:

fairytales, fairytale therapy, favourite fairytale, depth psychology, interview

Abstract

The major concern of the present book is the application of Hans DIECKMANN's concept of the general "Psychological Use of Fairytales" in the specific context of child therapy. Fairytales are introduced as means of access to children's inner realities, and, thus, as potential tools for cure and advancement. In this spirit, the author develops these tools against the background of a descriptive rather than analytic synopsis of pioneering works. Subsequently, she deduces a number of explanations for the effectiveness of fairytale therapy from rather poorly embedded discourses on the relevancy of symbolic language, dreams, and archetypes for this method. By means of semi-structured narrative interviews with nine children from five "intact" families, she analyses potential relations between the motives of the children's favorite fairytales and their psychological conflicts. In doing this she also intends to stress the relevancy of fairytales as a resource for prevention and therapy. After a very detailed description of the fieldwork, the book concludes with a lean discussion of results: according to the author, the favorite-fairytales approach provides us with a plural and multi-level understanding of problems, sorrows, and resources of the children who were interviewed. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0901250

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Author Biography

Armine Roth, Université de Fribourg

Dipl.-Psych. Armine ROTH studierte Psychologie mit Schwerpunkt Entwicklungspsychologie an der Yerevan State University und der Technischen Universität Chemnitz. Zum Herbstsemester 2008 hat sie ein Master-Studium in Klinischer Psychologie an der Université de Fribourg aufgenommen. Zuvor war sie als Kunst-, Spiel- und Märchentherapeutin für Kinder und Jugendliche tätig.

How to Cite

Roth, A. (2008). Review: Verena Bertignoll (2006). Kinder leben Märchen [Children Live Fairytales]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.1.1241