Dibs in Search of Self: The Renowned, Deeply Moving Story of an Emotionally Lost Child Who Found His Way Back

The search for self is perhaps the most important journey that a person undertakes. This journey is essential to feeling comfortable in one’s skin and confident in one’s abilities. It is a process that can take years, and which may never be fully complete. The process can be painful, sometimes tedious, but worthwhile. In order for a child like Dibs, who locked himself away from the world, to find out who he was, a variety of factors have to be present. Above all, Dibs needed the compassion of Dr. Axline. He needed the freedom and opportunity of Dr. Axline’s playroom and office. He also needed to believe in himself, to examine the most painful experiences of his life to overcome them and break down the locked doors within himself.

Dr. Axline stresses the importance of the humanistic approach in helping children and adults find themselves: “no one ever really knows as much about any human being’s inner world as does the individual himself […] that responsible freedom grows and develops from inside the person” (67). In other words, no psychologist can offer a patient more than what they can offer themselves—everything that a person needs to heal, grow, and overcome is already within them.