This is a case report of a child with AIDS who has taken part into psychotherapeutic sessions for an year. Considering the emotional difficulties experienced by the patient regarding the disease as well as the loss of his parents, caused by AIDS, an analysis based on psychodynamic psychology was conducted in relation to the unconscious fantasies, anxieties and defenses. At first, the child had used denial as a defense and expressed himself mainly through drawings. Along the play psychotherapy, the child was able to use less primitive defenses and express himself in other ways, such as games and drawings. The child's suffering seemed to be a result of abandonment and guilt feelings in relation to the disease and to his parents` death, as well as to unconscious fantasies of having provoked their death.
Human-immunodeficiency-virus; Death; Play-therapy; Child-psychotherapy