Abstract
OBJECTIVES: to develop a theoretical proposal on the nursing care process for children and adolescents with mental health problems, considering the structuring of the subject of the unconscious to establish the nurse-patient relationship through dramatic therapeutic play. METHODS: qualitative theoretical study, with a theoretical-methodological framework, developed from psychoanalysis. RESULTS: to offer care developed in the nurse-patient relationship through the nursing process, nurses can consider playing as a means of communication for children in psychological distress, anchored in the theoretical support of playing in psychoanalysis to carry out dramatic therapeutic play sessions, permeating the "Establishing a relationship", "Exploring", "Playing" and "Closing the session" stages, considering their respective theoretical supports, the nursing process phases, and nurses' attitudes and actions. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: the study presents a possibility of care for children and adolescents with psychological distress, developed in the nurse-patient relationship during the dramatic therapeutic play stages.