In psychotherapy, early trauma will, one way or another, be ‘re-played’. Unavoidable or inevitable holiday breaks, minor mistakes and failures on the part of the therapist will re-evoke egregious traumata from the patient’s past (absence, exploitation, neglect, seduction, etc.). As for a theatre audience, this helps patients ‘see’, mentalise, re-work, move on from, forgive, and contextualise ‘effigies’ from the past’ (Freud, 1900).
