PLAY THERAPY

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PLAY THERAPY

• Chapter 10

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Growth of Play Therapy

• Growing interest in play therapy is correlated
  with the increase in dysfunctional families
• Fragmented families
• Divorce
• School/neighborhood violence
• Media violence
• Abuse (Physical, Sexual, Emotional, Drug),
  neglect
• Prolonged stress
• (All of these factors contribute to the
  disruption of the childs development and family
  bonding)
• Benefits of Play Therapy
• Alleviate consequences of trauma
• Guide to parents and teachers for preventing
  childrens emotional trauma

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Key Points for Consideration/ Play Therapy

• Only trained professionals should initiate play
  therapy with children.
• Adults talk out their emotions Children play out
  their emotions. Play becomes the language in
  which children seek expression.
• Play therapy can be directive (therapist guides
  and interprets), or it may be nondirective
  (responsibility and direction are left to the
  child).

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History and Theories of Play Therapy

• Psychoanalysis
• Play therapy has its foundations in
  psychoanalysis
• Repression is a key outcome in understanding
  psychoanalysis and play therapy
• Transference/Resistance.
• Transference. Attitudes transferred by the
  client to the therapist that were originally
  transferred to the parent or other significant
  person.
• Resistance. Defensive striving against painful
  memories or experiences that can lead to
  forgetting and keeping experiences repressed and
  out of the consciousness.
• Id, ego, superego
• Oedipus complex

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Carl Jung

• Jung valued the therapeutic importance of
  individuality. Consequently, the therapist
  becomes a fellow participant in the therapeutic
  process
• Jung also deviates from Freud with the
  interpretation of dreams. According to Jung, the
  patient should learn to understand his own dreams
• Mental illness is related to the suppression of
  life experiences.
• Like Freud, Jung emphasized the role of childhood
  life experiences in understanding neurosis

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Psychoanalytic Play Therapy

• Play provides an avenue for decontextualization
• Play has cathartic effect (allowing children to
  purge themselves of negative feelings associated
  with traumatic events)
• Play rids the child of the constraints and
  sanctions of reality (provides a safe zone for
  expression)
• Play provides an opportunity to enhance
  understanding by changing roles (victim/punisher)
  and by transferring negative feelings to a
  substitute object (doll, puppet) or person
  (sibling, classmate).

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Psychoanalytic Play Therapists

• Melanie Klein
• Integrated tenants of Sigmund and Anna Freud by
  emphasizing the role of free association through
  play
• Children suffered from more acute stress than
  adultsFewer coping strategies
• Anna Freud
• Focused on simple (less symbolic) interpretations
  of childrens play
• Many of the noted problems in young children are
  related more to short-term experiences than
  long-term experiences
• Implemented storytelling in therapeutic settings.
  As child expresses himself, the therapist assist
  in interpreting and understanding feelings.

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Structured Play Therapy

• SPT grew out of the Psychoanalytic tradition, but
  with there were significant differences regarding
  therapeutic procedures
• Therapist is more aware than the child regarding
  the childs needs (The therapist designs the
  activity, selects the medium, and makes the
  rules).
• David Levy. Developed release therapyDetermine
  the cause of the childs difficulty by studying
  case history, then carefully controlling the play
  by providing selected toys to help the child work
  out the problem.
• Release of aggressive behaviorsthrowing objects
  bursting balloons
• Release of feelings in a setting that simulate
  sibling rivalrypresenting a baby doll at a
  mothers breast
• Release of feelings by presenting in play the
  childs stressful experiences
• Gove Hambridge. Based on information from
  parents and observations, he developed hypotheses
  about the childs stress, then recreated the
  stress through the childs play. Emphasis was on
  slow release of stress and emotions.

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Nondirective Therapy

• Carl Rogers. Pioneer of client-centered
  (nondirective) therapy. Focus on the wellness of
  individuals and the pursuit of self-actualization.
  
• Through therapy we focus on the client and her
  natural disposition towards relationship
  development and self-enhancement.
• A we focus on the individual, the goal is to help
  children develop greater understanding of how
  they appear to themselves. In theory, the child
  can then begin the process of correcting the
  self.
• Thought. Could it be that when we have
  challenging life experiences, the ego is unable
  to resolve the conflict and bring about
  resolution and consequently repression becomes
  the outcome. If this is the case, could it be
  that therapeutic intervention strengthens the ego
  and consequently enables the ego to do the rest???

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Virginia Axline

• Both V. Axline and C. Rogers purported that the
  therapeutic approaches traditionally employed on
  adolescents and adults possessed a unique
  feasibility to children as well.
• The child is the most important person in the
  therapeutic process
• The child possess the internal capacity to
  resolve problems of frustration, anxiety,
  aggression. Therapeutic intervention assists the
  child towards that process by providing an
  atmosphere that is supportive and void of stress
  and consequences
• Child has freedom of expression
• Childs past becomes irrelevant to therapeutic
  process
• Child has room to abort any aspect deemed too
  stressful

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Conducting Play Therapy

• Setting up the Playroom
• Because play is seen as the childs language
  through toys or resources, careful detail is
  given to the arrangement of playrooms (Rooms must
  be inviting and stimulating)
• Beginning Play Therapy
• Axlines eight play principles
• Therapist establishes a friendly relationship
• Accepts the child as he is
• Creates a permissive relationship child has
  freedom of expression
• Validates (acknowledge and reflect) childs
  feelings
• Responsibility for decisions and change is left
  mostly to the child
• Child directs the therapeutic process therapist
  follows
• Therapeutic interaction is not rushed
• Limits are set only when necessary for childs
  outcomes

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Establishing Rapport

• Through initial greeting and interaction, the
  therapist must create an environment that is safe
  and inviting. Afterwards, children become
  presented with an opportunity to enter into the
  therapeutic play area.
• Structuring the Playroom Experience
• The process of conveying to the child the special
  nature of the therapeutic relationship. Children
  are generally encouraged to play freely without
  consequences.

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Settings and Applications of Play Therapy

• Group Play Therapy
• Ginott identified group play therapy to be
  equally important to individual play therapy
  because several children playing in a group
  created a more relaxed (anxiety reduced)
  environment for children to express themselves
• In group process, rules are limited and children
  can experience catharsis through play or
  verbalization.
• Filial Therapy
• Louise Guerney (1964) noted the importance of
  training parents to conduct weekly play therapy
  session in the home
• Theraplay has been introduced into problem
  families. Play related techniques are focused
  around rituals of bonding and traditional
  parent/child interactions. In theory,
  dysfunctional families may generally be limited
  in certain healthy parent/child interactions and
  consequently contributing to certain childhood
  dysfunctions.

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Hospitalized Play Therapy

• Through play, children can be desensitized to
  certain anxieties associated with medical
  procedures or hospitalized experiences.
• Child Life Specialists can be employed to
• Prepare children for hospitalization and medical
  procedures
• Provide guidance and materials for play
• Advocate the childs point of view with medical
  personnel
• Provide emotional support to parents and siblings
• Maintain a positive, receptive environment for
  children and their families
• Play in Preschools and Elementary Schools
• The charge is integrate necessary skill
  development and education through the instrument
  of play
• The challenge is to implement this process in the
  midst of children who come from non-traditional
  and developmentally inappropriate backgrounds

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