The Significance of Hermeneutics to Child Psychotherapy

Bertha Mook
Child Study Center, University of Ottawa
Accepted: July 12, 1991

Increasingly the philosophical discipline of hermeneutics is being applied to a systematic study of

the human sciences. Yet a hermeneutic approach to psychotherapy has barely been considered. In
this paper, the possible significance of a hermeneutic approach to the field of child psychotherapy
is explored. Despite the fundamental differences between the two disciplines, both are faced with
the task of understanding and interpreting the meaning of human expressions through words and
images. Both encounter texts that call for deciphering. The author focuses first on the central concepts
of experience, understanding and interpretation which lie at the heart of both disciplines. Subsequently,
a hermeneutic approach to the expressions of experience in the form of child play and narratives
is explored and some implications for child psychotherapy are drawn. Finally, a possible hermeneutic
approach towards child psychotherapy is discussed.
Keywords: hermeneutics, child psychotherapy

L'hermeneutique, en tant que discipline philosophique, est mise de plus en plus en application dans
les sciences humaines. Cependant l'approche hermeneutique en psychotherapie n'a guere ete considee.
Cet article explore le potentiel de l'approche hermeneutique dans le domaine de la psychotherapie
de l'enfant. Malgre des differences fondamentales entre elles, les deux disciplines cherchent a comprendre
et a interpreter le sens de l'expression humaine a travers les mots et les images. Les deux font face
a des textes qui sont a interpreter. L'auteure met d'abord l'accent sur les concepts centraux de
l'experience, de la comprehension et de l'interpretation qui sont au coeur de deux disciplines. Par
la suite, elle developpe l'approche hermeneutique par rapport aux expressions de l'experience sous
forme de jeu et de recit chez l'enfant et en degage les implications pour la psychotherapie. Elle discute
finalement d'une approche hermeneutique possible en psychotherapie de l'enfant.
Mots clis: hermeneutique, psychotherapie de l'enfant

Hermeneutics and psychotherapy are still strange bed-
fellows today. Up to the present time, only the field of
psychoanalysis has received some serious attention from
hermeneutic philosophers of which Ricoeur's study of Freud
presents the best example. In the light of the paucity of
scholarly work on the relationship between hermeneutics
and psychotherapy, the pioneering work of Lubbers (1 985a,
1985b, 1988) on a hermeneutic approach to child psycho-
Address reprint requests to: Bertha Mook, Ph.D., Child Study Centre,
120 University Private, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, KIN 6N5.
J Psychiatr Neurosci, VoL 16, No. 3, 1991
diagnosis and psychotherapy can indeed be seen as a
promising new initiative. In this paper, I continue to explore
the possible significance of philosophical hermeneutics to
child psychotherapy against the background of the work
that has already been done by Lubbers, myself and a few
other authors.
The Interface Between Hermeneutics and Psychotherapy
Philosophical hermeneutics and psychotherapy are ob-
viously two very different disciplines with widely different
origins, goals and applications. However, beyond the surface
September 1991 Child Psychotherapy
they reveal some striking similarities and may have more
to contribute to each other than meets the eye. The word
hermeneutics is derived from the Greek noun hermeneia
which means interpretation. Basically, hermeneutics is the
science of interpretation. In general terms, hermeneutics
constitute a theoretical or philosophical approach to the
human sciences that aims to understand and interpret the
meaning of written texts by following systematic principles
and guidelines. How this process is possible, constitutes the
"problem of hermeneutics" (Bleicher 1980). Both Ricoeur
(1981) and Gadamer (1982) see hermeneutics as the me-
thodological foundation for the human sciences. Ricoeur
endorses the definition of hermeneutics as a theory of rules
for the interpretation of texts. With Gadamer (1982) the
object of hermeneutic understanding has been extended to
the broader field of human communication, especially verbal
conversations, play and art. For him, the hermeneutic
problem is concerned with achieving an agreement with
someone else about our shared world.
Psychotherapy, on the other hand, can be described as
a practical discipline which aims to understand and interpret
the meanings of the lived experiences of clients by means
of specific interventions in the context of a therapeutic
relationship. We only need to think of the client-centred
school which sees the main task of the therapist as the
communication of empathic understanding, and of psycho-
analysis where interpretation is the main mode of therapeutic
intervention. In general, psychotherapists are typically faced
with problems of misunderstanding, broken communication
and double meanings which call for clarification. They have
the additional task of working with their clients towards
restoring meaningful communication with self and others,
and of exploring new pathways of meaning which could
lead to a more fruitful and productive existence.
Despite the foundational differences between herme-
neutics and psychotherapy, we notice that in both disciplines
the task of understanding and interpreting the meaning of
various forms of human communication takes a central
place. Both hermeneuticists and psychotherapists need to
be experts in understanding and in interpreting the meaning
of human expressions through words, images and symbols.
We could say that both are faced with obscure texts or
narratives that need to be deciphered. Herein lies their
communicality and possible significance for each other.
In reflecting upon the relevance of a hermeneutic ap-
proach to child psychotherapy, I will first focus briefly on
the central concepts of experience, understanding and inter-
pretation which are of common concern to both disciplines.
Subsequently, I will look at a hermeneutic approach to the
expressions of experience in the forms of imaginative child
play and narratives. Within the field of philosophical herme-
neutics, I will draw predominantly on the writings of H.G.
Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. Finally, the possible contribution
of a hermeneutic approach to child psychotherapy will be
outlined.
183
Experience, Understanding and Interpretation
Most psychotherapists would agree that the subject matter
of psychotherapy is the expression of the experiences of
clients which therapists aim to understand and interpret.
These expressions include the child or adult clients' stories
about their problematic life as well as their communications
through the imagery of dreams, symptoms, play or art.
Basically the therapist is open and attentive to the self-
expressions of the experiences of her/his client and aims
to come to a fruitful understanding and a constructive
interpretation.
Indeed meanings of these central concepts vary depending
on the specific theoretical frame of reference within psy-
choanalytic and humanistic orientations. For example, in
psychoanalysis interpretation of the client's expressions are
subordinated to a previously accepted psychoanalytic theory.
In client-centred therapy, this form of interpretation is
rejected in favour of a direct empathic understanding of
the client's experience. A hermeneutic analysis of the con-
cepts of experience, understanding and interpretation leads
us back to their foundations and enables us to undercut
the different therapeutic conceptions.
In his hermeneutic study of the concept of experience,
Gadamer ( 1982) concludes that experience is not something
that an individual possesses but rather an attitude of openness
and flexibility through which something real and immediate
is grasped that is connected to the whole of one's life. Herein
he frees the concept of experience from its thing-like, inner
subjectivism and draws it into the realm of communication
where a part of the whole of one's life can be shared with
another person. Openness and flexibility is a necessary
condition for two people to understand each other. The
therapist shows this openness towards her/his client and
listens carefully to what she/he says, knowing that it may
be different from what she/he expected. The therapist also
aims to increase the openness and flexibility of her/his client.
This idea corresponds to what the client-centred school calls
enhancing the client's experiencing, or what Rogers aims
at with his concept of a fully functioning person (Widder-
shoven 1991).
An immediate understanding of the world of the other
is impossible. Following Heidegger, Gadamer writes that
all understanding is based on a pre-understanding, on an
anticipation of meaning. This pre-understanding, which he
also refers to as prejudice, is not a limitation but a constitutive
presupposition for all understanding. From this position of
pre-understanding, both partners attend and listen to each
other in an attempt to grasp what the other is saying.
Understanding has thus a dialogical character and a circular
structure which Heidegger called the hermeneutic circle.
In his writings, Gadamer clearly shows that understanding
and reciprocity are internally related. To understand means
to grasp and to be grasped by the meaning of what the
other communicates. Understanding takes the form of a
conversation in which both partners offer their perspective
on a topic or theme. Understanding is born at the moment
184 Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience
that an agreement between the partners is achieved in which
the horizon of the one fuses with the horizon of the other.
In this fusion of horizons, the perspectives of the individual
partners are transcended. Therefore understanding is not
reproductive but productive as it leads to a broader and
new perspective.
Gadamer's hermeneutic concept of understanding can
be seen as directly relevant to psychotherapy. Understanding
is not just an empathic feeling into the inner experiential
world of the other as claimed by the client-centered school.
No, Gadamer stresses that understanding is rooted in history
and tradition , in a pre-understanding which is true for both
partners, and thus also for the therapist and her/his client.
For the therapist to understand her/his client, she/he has
to be open-minded and listen attentively to what her/his
client is saying within the circular context of the therapeutic
dialogue. The therapist lets her/his own perspective be
shaped and modified by what she/he learns from her/his
client, and hopes to gradually also shape and modify the
troubled perspective of her/his client. When they reach an
agreement in the communication of their mutual views, their
horizons will fuse which will lead to a mutual enlightenment
and a progress in therapy.
From Gadamer's hermeneutic point of view, interpre-
tation is always based on understanding. The two phenomena
are indissolubly interwoven with each other. Interpretation
is potentially contained in understanding and makes this
understanding explicit by putting it into words. Gadamer
calls interpretation a process of highlighting. He further
emphasizes that an interpretation is never abstract or general
but always a concrete application of understanding to the
specific circumstances of the individual case. Fruitful inter-
pretation does not generalize but concretizes. It is also
dialogical in character and subject to the method of the
hermeneutic circle.
Within the therapeutic context, interpretations of the
client's expressions are not subordinated to an abstract,
theoretical frame of reference, as it happens so often in
psychoanalysis. To the contrary, a good interpretation in
psychotherapy is attuned to the concrete, specific situation
of the client. It makes her/his expressions accessible and
throws a new light on them. In practice, the validity of an
interpretation rests with the client. We could say that it
has the character of a hypothesis which the client accepts
or rejects. An interpretation without therapeutic effect and
client acceptance is practically useless. The client, child or
adult, is the one who has to endorse it as congruent with
his experiential reality (Widdershoven 1991).
It becomes apparent that the hermeneutic perspective
on the central concepts of experience, understanding and
interpretation have in principle much to offer to the field
of psychotherapy. An application of the hermeneutic in-
sights to these concepts in psychotherapy would demand
a thorough rethinking of the present psychoanalytic and
humanistic theories and would necessarily lead to changes
in therapeutic practice.
VoL 16., No. 3. 1991
From a hermeneutic perspective, the clients' expressions
of their experiences in psychotherapy can be viewed as texts
which therapists aim to understand and interpret. With adult
clients, these texts are mostly verbal in character and have
the quality of stories. Clients tell their therapist the painful
stories of their lives. Occasionally they express themselves
through images or symbols in the form of dreams or art.
Child clients also express their experiences through words
and images. However, they stand closer than adults to the
world of images which for them are still powerful carriers
of their feelings, thoughts and actions (Mook 1975). In
psychotherapy, children's play in particular is widely viewed
as their natural way of self-expression and are employed
by practitioners from various theoretical approaches.
We will now explore a philosophical hermeneutic ap-
proach to the expressions of experiences in the form of play
and narratives respectively and draw some possible the-
rapeutic implications.
The Phenomenon of Play
Despite the popularity of the use of play in psychotherapy
with children, its meaning remains elusive and its inter-
pretation problematic. The quest for a deeper understanding
of play extends beyond psychotherapy and psychology to
other human science disciplines all of which in their ontic
(factual) investigations offer valuable but only partial ex-
planations of this universal and foundational phenomenon
(Hyland 1984). Next to invaluable phenomenological studies
of play, Gadamer's hermeneutic philosophy makes an ontol-
ogical contribution which is most enlightening and holds
challenging implications for the use of play in child psycho-
therapy.
In Truth and method, Gadamer (1982) aims to free the
concept of play from its overly subjective meaning which
it historically derived from Kant and Schiller. Through his
ontological quest into the mode of being of play, he
illuminates anew this fascinating yet elusive phenomenon.
Without losing sight of the player, Gadamer emphasizes
that the true subject of play is not the subjectivity of the
player but play itself. He asserts that play has its own essence
and its own thematic horizon. In its most original sense,
play intends a to-and-fro movement which renews itself
in constant repetition. In human play we have a subject
who plays but the medial sense with its to-and-fro move-
ments is ever present. Phenomenologists of play have
recognized this medial nature in the reciprocal relationship
between the player and his play object (eg., Buytendijk 1932,
Vermeer 1955, Scheuerl 1986). However, in asserting the
primacy of play over the player, Gadamer goes a step further.
He writes: "All playing is a being played. The attraction
of a game, the fascination it exerts consists precisely in
the fact that the game tends to master the players" (p. 95).
Play itself draws the player into its spell and keeps her/
him there. This absorption of the player into the play frees
her/him from the burden of reality. Furthermore, the playing
September 1991 Child Psychotherapy l85

and being played involves a sense of freedom and risk. In threatens the life of the village people who live close by.
its recurrent-to-fro movements, ever new configurations are In the adaptive exchange of expectation and surprise, the
created which order the play and lend it its particular imaginative play unfolds. In the child's play expressions,
structure. her/his self-representation is important but remains subor-
The player chooses her/his play objects and sets apart dinate to the representation of the play itself which reveals
her/his playing field. In a playroom, for example, a child its own significance and its own truth.
may choose to play a scene with puppets in a puppet theatre, A further therapeutic implication lies in Gadamer's
or act out a scene in the sandbox with wild animals. In statement that play is an experience that changes the person
doing so, she/he sets the sphere of play off as a closed who experiences it. Herein he alludes to the therapeutically
world with its own structure and purpose. The task and important transformative power of play. The child client
sole purpose of play lies in representing itself. In fulfilling who expresses her/himself in play is drawn into an expe-
this task, the child plays her/himself out and fulfils through rience which affects and changes her/him in an immediate
it her/his own heightened self-representation. experiential way. This possibility of change is heightened
Gadamer's work reveals that the phenomena of play and in psychotherapy where the therapist as a participant-
art are closely interwoven and mutually constitutive of each observer follows the child and partakes in her/his play
other. For him, the concept of play is the proper artistic communication. The therapist encourages the child client
event, and the reality of play is the play of art. Human to develop and differentiate emotionally-laden play images
play finds its perfection when it is transformed into the within a personally relevant context. She/he may also help
structure of a work of art. Imaginative play itself also presents the child to recognize the intended meanings of her/his play
us with a transformed structure. Despite its dependence on representations through timely interpretations.
being played, it is a meaningful whole which rises above The key question of the meaning and the interpretation
the identity of the player and the real world in which the of play in child psychotherapy achieves a new focus and
player lives. As a structure, it reveals its own significance a new horizon in the light of Gadamer's work. In referring
and its own truth. Gadamer(1982) writes:" In the repre- to works of art, Gadamer stresses that interpretation depends
sentation of play, what is emerges. In it is produced and on the possibilities that the work itself possesses and on
brought to light what otherwise is constantly hidden and the compelling quality of the representation. The interpre-
withdrawn" (p. 101). The representation in play is therefore tation should do justice to the true binding quality of the
revelatory and its essence is recognized as truth. work which imposes itself on the interpreter in a special
In my view, Gadamer's concept of play is indeed original and immediate way. In principle, the same holds true for
and liberating. He succeeds in restoring it as an autonomous the interpretation of imaginative play. In a hermeneutic
phenomenon by freeing it from previous subjectivistic and approach, play and art expressions are seen as texts and
dualistic subject-object conceptions which pervades the subject to the same guidelines for interpretation. In a previous
psychology of play (Mook 1989a). In Howard's (1982) article, I applied Gadamer's view of the concept of play
words, Gadamer has shown that our experience of play (and towards understanding and interpreting a child client's play
art) "responds to a different synthesis of the role of subject in therapeutic practice (Mook 1989a). At a recent confer-
and object, one that does not fracture the givenness of truth ence, I proposed a hermeneutic approach to the interpre-
is at the same time poetic, normative and productive" tation of imaginative play in child psychotherapy based on
(p. 143). the writings of Gadamer and Ricoeur (Mook 1991). How-
ever, systematic studies in this area have barely begun.
Implications for Child Psychotherapy
Gadamer's ontological concept of play throws a new light The Narrative Perspective
on its role and meaning in psychotherapy. Play is not just
a symbolic expression of the unconscious. Nor should it The hermeneutic approach to narratives implies an em-
be interpreted in terms of a fixed theoretical frame of phasis on language, history and tradition. The relationship
reference. To the contrary, play rises above the subject as between language and experience is perceived as a very
a primary and autonomous phenomenon, as a meaningful close and intricate one. Madison (1988) writes: "Experience
whole with its own structure. Play is directly representational is not really meaningful until it has found a home in
and revelatory in its own right. language" (p. 17). He further remarks that the self requires
Applied to the context of child psychotherapy, Gadamer's language to be able to tell what it is. People express
concept of play implies that the meaning of play lies beyond themselves through language and especially through stories.
the original intention of the client. In her/his play the child Their stories in turn form part of their history and the
client is drawn into a greater totality with its own transformed traditions in which they have been raised in their particular
structure. For example, with an emotionally disturbed child, culture. A hermeneutic understanding of a story or a text
a waterbath may turn into a lake with dangerous crocodiles always places it within a larger context. The interpretation
which the little boy that went swimming did not know about; of a text within a context also sheds a new light on the
or a heap of sand may become an active volcano which context.
186 Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience
In a person's story, the characters' actions and thoughts
are seen as meaningful expressions which form a whole
within the larger context of her/his life-story. Structurally,the
parts of a story are seen as internally related and constitute
a whole within a larger whole. Different parts of the story
contribute to the meaning of the whole and in turn derive
their meaning from the sense of the whole. The interrelated
parts form a pattern of meaningful relationships and con-
stitute the structure of the story. In trying to understand
and interpret a story, the hermeneuticist attempts to grasp
and explicate this structure of meaningful interrelationships.
Methodologically, an interpretation in which part and whole
clarify each other takes place through the application of
the hermeneutic circle.
In the vast literature on narrativity, the most outstanding
contribution to a hermeneutic understanding of narratives,
has been made by Paul Ricoeur. In his original work, Time
and narrative (1984), he explores the relationship between
the activity of narrating a story and the temporal character
of human experience. He proposes and demonstrates that
narrativity and temporality form a reciprocal relationship,
two halves of a circle which naturally reinforce each other
in a dialectical fashion. He writes: "Time becomes human
time to the extent that it is organized after the manner of
a narrative; narrative in turn, is meaningful to the extent
that it portrays the features of temporal experience" (1984,
p. 3). Ricoeur shows us that narratives are rooted and
prefigured in everyday experiences and actions. As such,
experience has a pre-narrative structure and is in demand
of narrative. In using the literary narrative as a model,
Ricoeur explores the mediating operations between temporal
lived experiences and narrative discourse. With great clarity
he explicates the concrete processes by which the textual
configuration mediates between its pre-figuration in the
practical field of daily life and its re-figuration through the
reception of the work. These processes as a whole constitute
the structure of a narrative.
The hermeneutic approach to narratives is relevant to
psychotherapy. Within the therapeutic dialogue, clients al-
ways tell and retell stories of their lives. The work of
psychotherapy itself can be seen as the gradual dismantling
of painful and unproductive stories and the creation of a
new story on the basis of a new understanding of self and
others. It is remarkable that the literature on narratives and
especially the hermeneutic perspective has hardly penetrated
the field of psychotherapy except for the work of Schafer
(1978) and a few other voices. Especially relevant for
psychotherapy are Ricoeur's insights that narratives are
prefigured in our temporal experiences and actions, and that
human experience is in quest of narrative. His analysis of
narrative structure has also important implications for the
therapeutic process where pre-narrative experiential struc-
tures could be seen as gradually being shaped and configured
into a new narrative. An effective new story could help
to re-integrate a client into a meaningful social existence.
This applies in principle to all forms of psychotherapy,
VoL 16, No. 3, 1991
whether we deal with children, youth, adults or families
(Mook 1989b).
In work with children, the therapeutic use of narratives
harbour a great potential which is not sufficiently realized.
However, the use of fairy-tales has been advocated by
Bettelheim ( 1977), and story-telling techniques (eg., Gardner
1986) are becoming increasingly known. In play, we en-
counter play narratives which call for understanding and
interpretation. A hermeneutic approach to the interpretation
of play narratives may open new perspectives in therapeutic
practice (Mook 1989b).
A Hermeneutic Approach to Child Psychotherapy
From a hermeneutic perspective, we could say that the
child client who seeks help in psychotherapy suffers from
repeated misunderstandings which have led to communi-
cation disturbances. She/he no longer feels understood by
significant others. For the client this means a loss of security,
an isolation and a defensive withdrawal from an increasingly
threatening world. She/he needs the help of a psychotherapist
to understand her/himself and to restore vital relationships
to significant others.
In the beginning phase of psychotherapy, the child client
presents her/his problematic story through words and im-
ages. Her/his emotional-laden story is to a greater or lesser
extent fragmented, conflictual and contradictory in nature.
The therapist soon discovers that her/his client's story is
often concealing and incomplete and that her/his symp-
tomatic behaviours remain unintelligible. The client seeks,
or is referred for, professional help exactly because she/
he is stuck in her/his own story and caught in the vicious
circle of recurrent symptomatic behavioural patterns. She/
he is in need of another story that will be congruent with
her/his own experiences. This potential story has not yet
been told but is in demand of narrative, as Ricoeur might
say. In this context we are reminded of his strong words:
"We tell stories because in the last analysis human lives
need and merit being narrated.. .The whole history of
suffering cries out for vengeance and calls for narrative"
(1984, p. 75).
In a hermeneutic approach to psychotherapy, the therapist
enters with her/his client in a hermeneutic circle of question
and answer in search for an understanding of the client's
problematic world. A good therapist is open and receptive
to her/his client's expressions through words or images. She/
he is aware of the hermeneutic insight that understanding
means participation in the thinking and life-tradition of the
other. She/he follows the text-in-context principle which
situates the texts that the client presents in the context of
her/his life. This principle recognizes that every client's
verbal and non-verbal expressions are formed and shaped
by her/his own experiences, her/his own history and her/
his own cultural traditions. Understanding a client's story
often demands an active search into her/his specific history
and herein the therapist may need the help of significant
September 1991 Child Psychotherapy 187

others. Lubbers (1988) calls this search for "herms" in the gradually being shaped. It can be seen as analogous to the
past, the archaeological principle. As in archaeology, objects configurational act of a plot when evolving new perspectives
and other evidences from the past are used in the recon- of the therapist and the client are gradually configured into
struction of the context of a person's life. a more cohesive and intelligible whole. Such a creation of
In her/his search for understanding her/his child or adult a new narrative structure involves a transformation of the
client, the hermeneutically oriented psychotherapist employs client's experiences. In brief, the therapist and her/his client
verbal and non-verbal means of communication in the form work together through words and images towards creating
of stories, play or other creative expressions. Gadamer has a new narrative that emerges from a deeper and more
shown us that communication through play is directly complete understanding and interpretation of the client's
representational and revelatory. In contrast to the logos of lived experiences and actions. Hopefully, this new narrative
words, images are laden with pathos. Images in play portray is more cohesive, more consistent and more intelligible than
in a direct way the emotional side of the meanings of a before and enables the client to restore her/his communica-
child client's experiences which makes its use highly relevant tion with the significant others in her/his life.
in psychotherapy. In addition, a child client's play frees her/
him from a direct confrontation with her/his painful reality
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