Play therapy is generally employed with children ages 3 through 11 and provides a way for them to express their experiences and feelings through a natural, self-guided, self-healing process. As children’s experiences and knowledge are often communicated through
playPlay is a rite and a quality of mind in engaging with one's worldview. Play refers to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment. Play may consist of amusing, pretend or imaginary interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions or...
, it becomes an important vehicle for them to know and accept themselves and others.
General
Play Therapy is the systematic use of a
theoretical modelThe term theory has two broad sets of meanings, one used in the empirical sciences and the other used in philosophy, mathematics, logic, and across other fields in the humanities. There is considerable difference and even dispute across academic disciplines as to the proper usages of the term...
to establish an interpersonal process wherein play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial challenges and achieve optimal growth and development. A working definition might be a form of counseling or psychotherapy that therapeutically engages the power of play to communicate with and help people, especially children, to engender optimal
integrationSocial integration, in sociology and other social sciences, is the movement of minority groups such as ethnic minorities, refugees and underprivileged sections of a society into the mainstream of society...
and
individuationIndividuation is a concept which appears in numerous fields and may be encountered in work by Carl Jung, Gilbert Simondon, Bernard Stiegler, Gilles Deleuze, Henri Bergson, David Bohm, and Manuel De Landa...
.
Play Therapy is often used as tool of diagnosis. A play therapist observes a client playing with toys (play-houses, pets, dolls, etc.) to determine the cause of the disturbed behavior. The objects and patterns of play, as well as the willingness to interact with the therapist, can be used to understand the underlying rationale for behavior both inside and outside the session.
According to the psychodynamic view, people (especially children) will engage in play behavior in order to work through their interior
obfuscationObfuscation is the concealment of intended meaning in communication, making communication confusing, intentionally ambiguous, and more difficult to interpret.- Background :...
s and
anxietiesAnxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, fear, or worry....
. In this way, play therapy can be used as a self-help mechanism, as long as children are allowed time for "free play" or "unstructured play." From a developmental point of view, play has been determined to be an essential component of healthy child development. Play has been directly linked to
cognitive developmentCognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, and other topics in cognitive psychology. A large portion of research has gone into understanding how a child...
.
One approach to treatment is for play therapists use a type of systematic
desensitizationIn psychology, desensitization is a process for mitigating the harmful effects of phobias or other disorders. It also occurs when an emotional response is repeatedly evoked in situations in which the action tendency that is associated with the emotion proves irrelevant or unnecessary...
or relearning therapy to change disturbing behavior, either systematically or in less formal social settings. These processes are normally used with children, but are also applied with other pre-verbal, non-verbal, or verbally-impaired persons, such as slow-learners, or brain-injured or drug-affected persons. Mature adults usually need much "group permission" before indulging in the relaxed spontaneity of play therapy, so a very skilled group worker is needed to deal with such guarded individuals.
Many mature adults find that "child's play" is so difficult and taboo, that most experienced group workers need specially tailored "play" strategies to reach them. Competent adult-group workers will use these play strategies to enable more unguarded spontaneity to develop in the non-childish student.
History
Play has been recognized as important since the time of Plato (429-347 B.C.) who reportedly observed, “you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” In the eighteenth century Rousseau (1762/1930), in his book ‘Emile’ wrote about the importance of observing play as a vehicle to learn about and understand children. Friedrich Fröbel, in his book
The Education of Man (1903), emphasized the importance of symbolism in play. He observed, “play is the highest development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in the child’s soul…. children’s play is not mere sport. It is full of meaning and import.” (Fröbel, 1903, p.22) The first documented case, describing the therapeutic use of play, was in 1909 when Sigmund Freud published his work with “Little Hans.” Little Hans was a five-year-old child who was suffering from a simple phobia. Freud saw him once briefly and recommended that his father take note of Hans’ play to provide insights that might assist the child. The case of “Little Hans” was the first case in which a child’s difficulty was related to emotional factors.
Hermine Hug-Hellmuth (1921) formalized the play therapy process by providing children with play materials to express themselves and emphasize the use of the play to analyze the child. In 1919,
Melanie KleinMelanie Klein was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst who devised novel therapeutic techniques for children that had a significant impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis...
(1955) began to
implementImplement may refer to:* Implementation — the process for putting a design, plan or policy into effect.* A class of tools — such as farm implements or writing implements.-Etymology:...
the technique of using play as a means of analyzing children under the age of six. She believed that child’s play was essentially the same as free association used with adults, and that as such, it was provide access to the child’s unconscious.
Anna FreudAnna Freud was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. Born in Vienna, she followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis. With Melanie Klein, she is the cofounder of psychoanalytic child psychology...
(1946, 1965) utilized play as a means to facilitate positive attachment to the therapist and gain access to the child’s
inner lifeInner Life was an American Rhythm and blues studio project of the disco era that enjoyed success with "I'm Caught Up " and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" . Both tracks featured the vocals of Jocelyn Brown and Leroy Burgess...
.
In the 1930’s David Levy (1938) developed a technique he called release therapy. His technique emphasized a structured approach. A child, who had experienced a specific stressful situation, would be allowed to engage in free play. Subsequently, the therapist would introduce play materials related to the stress-evoking situation allowing the child to reenact the traumatic event and release the associated emotions.
In 1955, Gove Hambidge expanded on Levy’s work emphasizing a “Structured Play Therapy” model, which was more direct in introducing situations. The format of the approach was to establish rapport, recreate the stress-evoking situation, play out the situation and then free play to recover.
Jesse Taft (1933) and Frederick Allen (1934) developed an approach they entitled relationship therapy. The primary emphasis is placed on the emotional relationship between the therapist and the child. The focus is placed on the child’s freedom and strength to choose.
Carl Rogers (1942) expanded the work of the relationship therapist and developed non-directive therapy, later called client-centered therapy (Rogers, 1951). Virginia Axline (1950) expanded on her mentor's concepts. In her article entitled ‘Entering the child’s world via play experiences’ Axline summarized her concept of play therapy stating, “A play experience is therapeutic because it provides a secure relationship between the child and the adult, so that the child has the freedom and room to state himself in his own terms, exactly as he is at that moment in his own way and in his own time” (Progressive Education, 27, p. 68).
Filial therapy, developed by Bernard and Louise Guerney, was a new innovation in play therapy during the 1960’s. The filial approach emphasizes a structured training program for parents in which they learn how to employ child-centered play sessions in the home. In the 1960’s, with the advent of school counselors, school-based play therapy began a major shift from the private sector. Counselor-educators such as Alexander (1964); Landreth (1969, 1972); Muro (1968); Myrick and Holdin (1971); Nelson (1966); and Waterland (1970) began to contribute significantly, especially in terms of using play therapy as both an educational and preventive tool in dealing with children’s issues.
In 1982, the Association for Play Therapy (APT) was established marking not only the desire to promote the advancement of play therapy, but to acknowledge the extensive growth of play therapy. Currently, the APT has almost 5,000 members in twenty-six countries (2006). Play therapy training is provided, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas (2000), by 102 universities and colleges throughout the United States.
Efficacy of Play Therapy
An extensive body of literature has documented the effectiveness of play therapy, as a counseling model, in working with children and adolescents. Since the 1940s play therapy researchers have studied play therapy and documented its effectiveness. Research examining the effectiveness of play therapy related to conduct disorder, aggression and oppositional behavior have been undertaken.
Authors (Dogra and Veeraraghavan, 1994) found parents and their children (ages 8–12) who had been diagnosed with conduct disorder and were exhibiting significant aggression, after receiving sixteen sessions of nondirective play therapy and parental counseling, showed significantly less “extrapunitive” responses and significantly higher “impunitive” and “need-persistence” compared to the control group. Additionally, they exhibited significant positive change in adjustment while significantly decreasing aggressive behaviors. Authors studying school maladjustment (Wong et al., 1996), using the board game ‘Stacking the Deck’ to teach social skills to boys diagnosed with conduct disorder (ages 16–17) who were mildly retarded, found eight sessions or less showed “clear improvements after unit training.” Schmidtchen, Hennies and Acke (1993) compared a treatment group of children (ages 5–8), who exhibited behavioral disturbances and received thirty sessions of nondirective play therapy, with a control group receiving non-play therapy social education. Results showed a decrease in behavioral disturbances and an increase in “person-centered competencies.”
Authors Burroughs, Wagoner & Johnson (1997) studied twenty-one participants (ages 7–17) whose parents were either divorced or divorcing. They found that treatment group members who played ‘My Two Homes’ as well as group members who participated in conventional play therapy exhibited a decline in parents’ scores on the ‘Internalizing Scale of Child Behavior Checklist’ as well as the parent form of the ‘Children’s Depression Inventory’. State and trait anxiety also decreased in both groups. A study on the effectiveness of play therapy on multiculturalism was undertaken. The author studied 168 children (ages 10–12; 82% were African-American) who were identified as “at-risk” and participated in a mean average of four nondirective play therapy sessions. Results indicated that children who participated in the play therapy sessions maintained the same level of self-esteem and internal locus of control, while children in the control group showed a statistically significant level as measured by the ‘Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory’ and the ‘Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scaled-Revised’. Play therapy has also been studied with sexual abuse victims, and one study by Reams and Friedrich (1994), who placed victims or siblings of victims (ages 3-5) in a 15-week treatment group using directive play therapy, found that they engaged in “less isolated play” than the control group.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is a neurobehavioral developmental disorder. ADHD is primarily characterized by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone." While symptoms may appear to be innocent and merely annoying...
(ADHD) has been a significant diagnosis for well over a decade. Kaduson and Finnerty (1995) conducted a study with sixty-three children between the ages of eight and twelve. The authors compared three groups of children diagnosed with ADHD using a game (Self-control Game) for one group, biofeedback for another and a control strategic game only in the final group. Results indicated biofeedback was the most effective in improving the child’s self-perception of self-control. All three groups indicated a significant improvement in sociability and attention. Peer play therapy groups combined with art therapy groups, and family play therapy groups combined with art therapy groups, have been shown (Springer, et al., 1992) to improve depression and hyperactivity scores, in both boys and girls, according to the ‘Child Behavior Checklist’ in children who have at least one parent who is suffering from alcohol or drug dependency. Additionally, aggression and delinquent behaviors significantly decreased in boys. The study included 132 subjects between the ages of seven and seventeen. Over the past two decades there has been a concerted effort to develop and implement well-designed controlled play intervention studies. Two meta-analytic studies have examined the effectiveness of play therapy with children (e.g., LeBlanc & Ritchie 1999; Ray, Bratton, Rhine, & Jones, 2001). LeBlanc and Ritchie’s meta-analysis included 42 experimental studies, dated from 1947 to 1997. The studies used came from multiple sources, including journals, dissertations, and unpublished studies.
Sandtray Therapy
Also see Sand tray therapy.
Sandtray or
Sandbox Therapy is a form of experiential workshop which allows greater exploration of deep emotional issues. Sandplay therapy is suitable for children and adults and allows them to reach a deeper insight into and resolution of a range of issues in their lives such as deep anger,
depressionMajor depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
,
abuseAbuse refers to the use or treatment of something that is harmful. It can be classed by the target of abuse or the type of abuse.- Classed by targets of abuse include :...
or
griefGrief is the multi-faceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which we have formed a bond of attachment. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions...
.
Through a safe and supportive process they are able to explore their world using a sandtray and a collection of miniatures. Accessing hidden or previously unexplored areas is often possible using this expressive and creative way of working which does not rely on “talk” therapy.
"Sand Tray participants are invited to create a diorama (a story or miniature world) by arranging toy people, animals, and other items in the sandtray. The therapist evaluates the participant's choice and use of objects to draw various conclusions about the subject's psychological health. This non-invasive method works especially well with those individuals who are young or have trouble comprehending and talking about difficult issues, such as domestic or child abuse, incest, or the death of a family member."
Sandplay Therapy: A Step-By-Step Manual for Psychotherapists of Various Orientations , B. Labovitz Boik, E. Anna Goodwin, Norton Press, New York, NY, 2000.
Sandplay Studies: Origins, Theory and Practice, K. Bradway, K. Signell, G. Spare, C. Stewart, L. Stewart, C. Thompson, Sigo Press, Boston, MA 1981.
Sandtray Worldplay: Comprehensive Guide to the Use of the Sandtray in Psychotherapy and Transformational Settings, Gisela De Domenico, Vision Quest, Oakland, CA 1988.
Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche, Dora M. Kalff, Temenos Press, Cloverdale, CA 2003.
Play in Childhood,
Margaret LowenfeldMargaret Frances Jane Lowenfeld was a British-born pioneer of child psychology and psychotherapy, a medical researcher in paediatric medicine, and an author of several publications and academic papers on the analysis of child development and play...
, MacKeith Press, London 1991.
Introduction to Sandtray Therapy for Adult Victims of Trauma, Roberta G. Sachs, PHD. , Dissociative Disorders Program, 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie, IL 60076 1992.
Images Self: The Sandplay Therapy Process, of the Estelle L.Weinrib, Sigo Press, Boston, MA 1983.
Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Sandplay Therapists of America PO Box 4847 Walnut Creek, CA
Further reading
- Play Therapy by Virginia Axline
Virginia M. Axline was a psychologist and the creator of Play Therapy. She wrote the book Dibs In Search Of Self. She was also the author of Play Therapy.Current Play Therapy practice is still largely based on Virginia Axline's work...
(original print 1947). ISBN 0-345-30335-0. Houfton Mifflin Company.
- Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship by Gary Landreth (Second Edition 2002). ISBN 1583913270. Brunner-Routledge.
- Play Therapy Theory and Practice: A Comparative Presentation by Kevin O'Connor & Lisa Braverman (1996). ISBN 0471106380. Wiley.
External links