The mask: the play of hiding or revealing in a changing world

Our desire to join the “mask”” theme is linked to our thoughts and considerations about the different use that each patient has about the same character, we saw the very typical function of the mask in Jung’s concept. The clinical observations that we would like to propose have to do with the symbolism of a character that belongs to the collective imaginary world and that favoured, in different ways, the beginning of the process of individuation in two young women. The character that we are referring to is Wendy Darling who appears in the literary work, “Peter Pan” by J. Barrie. Exploring the sense and significance of the character Wendy allows us: A better understanding of the patient’s clinical picture that we’ll be focusing on and a general reflection about the use of the figure belonging to the world of the collective unconsious and in particular about the use of “masks”.