PLAY THERAPY

1. PLAY THERAPY Chapter 10

2. 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 child’s development and family bonding) • Benefits of Play Therapy • Alleviate consequences of trauma • Guide to parents and teachers for preventing children’s emotional trauma

3. 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).

4. History and Theories of Play Therapy • Psychoanalysis • Play therapy has it’s 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

5. 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

6. 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).

7. 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 adults…Fewer coping strategies • Anna Freud • Focused on simple (less symbolic) interpretations of children’s 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.

8. 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 child’s needs (The therapist designs the activity, selects the medium, and makes the rules). • David Levy. Developed release therapy—Determine the cause of the child’s 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 behaviors—throwing objects; bursting balloons • Release of feelings in a setting that simulate sibling rivalry—presenting a baby doll at a mother’s breast • Release of feelings by presenting in play the child’s stressful experiences • Gove Hambridge. Based on information from parents and observations, he developed hypotheses about the child’s stress, then recreated the stress through the child’s play. Emphasis was on slow release of stress and emotions.

9. 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???

10. 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 • Child’s past becomes irrelevant to therapeutic process • Child has room to abort any aspect deemed too stressful

11. Conducting Play Therapy • Setting up the Playroom • Because play is seen as the child’s language through toys or resources, careful detail is given to the arrangement of playrooms (Rooms must be inviting and stimulating) • Beginning Play Therapy • Axline’s 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) child’s 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 child’s outcomes

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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 child’s 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