Dibs in Search of Self

Dibs in Search of Self is a true story by psychologist and author Virginia Axline. It chronicles a series of play therapy sessions over a period of one year with an emotionally crippled boy who comes from wealthy and highly educated family who, in spite of obvious signs that he is gifted, his mother and father perceive him as a "mental defective", because he presents abnormal social behavior: "Dibs" continuously isolates himself (shuns social contact), rarely speaks, physically lashes out at his sister and classmates at school (hitting, kicking etc), has homicidal ideation, displays severe anti-social behavior; he is misdiagnosed as an autistic.

To protect his anonymity, Axline gave him the pseudonym "Dibs". Virginia Axline uses the Play Therapy, in order to communicate with "Dibs". Gradually, 'Dibs' is rehabilitated, and brought back to close to normal social behaviors. Dibs was a gifted child with an IQ of 168.