Transcript playTherapy - Paul Conway: Academic, Semiotician

Play Therapy 1a
Entering a Child’s World
I. THE CHILD’S WORLD
II. THE CHILD’S WORLD IS UNSAFE
III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
IV. CHILDREN LONG TO BE HEARD
I. THE CHILD’S WORLD
•Their perspective
•Innocent + literal thinkers:
•(Cognitive vs. affective):
•Childhood:
•No financial worries,
•job pressures,
•societal problems
“The entire range of
children’s mental life
can and does connect
with their religious and
spiritual thinking.”
Robert Coles Harvard
Child Psychologist
This is not a book
about Christian
counseling of children.
Rather, it is a book
about counseling
children by entering
their world. (Key to
this book is not an
academic evaluation
but a map to enter a
child’s world)
I. THE CHILD’S WORLD
II. THE CHILD’S WORLD IS UNSAFE
•Children grow and develop where they feel safe.
•Divorce
• 50% in and out of the church
•Redbook article
•TV Statistic:
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52,000 murders by age 18
•
(Ethan closing his eyes crying, “Change it, daddy, change it.
•Redbook’s report
•In an article in American Psychologist… “Children
suffer more victimization than do adults…”
Dr. Lee Salk
NY University
“Are Kids Growing Up too
Fast?” “Children are being
shortchanged. We hurry
them toward independence
before they are emotionally
ready. Speeding children into
adulthood not only makes
this world unsafe for them,
but it is also a national
tragedy with serious
consequences. Television, the
nation’s leading baby-sitter,
contributes to this.
“If we really want
children to succeed
and be productive
people, we’ll respect
them as human
beings and let them
grow at their own
pace.”
I. THE CHILD’S WORLD
II. THE CHILD’S WORLD IS UNSAFE
III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
•U.S. Office of Technology Assessment: 12% of
kids (7.5 million children), are in need of mental
health care.
•In the city, 38.5% psychological disturbance.
•Only 11% received treatment.
•Only 10% of psychiatrists are committed to
working only with kids.
I. THE CHILD’S WORLD
II. THE CHILD’S WORLD IS UNSAFE
III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
5 deficiencies in preparing psychologists for
working with kids)
1. Too few developmental and clinical child
courses
2. Too little child assessment and therapy
training
3. Too little experience with children within a
variety of settings
4. Too little supervision
5. Too much emphasis on techniques suitable
only for adults
I. THE CHILD’S WORLD
II. THE CHILD’S WORLD IS UNSAFE
III. CHILDREN NEED COMPASSIONATE COUNSELORS
IV. CHILDREN LONG TO BE HEARD
Play Therapy
Children Communicate Through Play
“Play is child’s work,
and this is not a
trivial pursuit.”
Alfred Adler
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CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
THE THEOLOGY OF PLAY
CALLED TO PLAY
THE DEVELOPMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
• Children do communicate through play,
whether or not adults can interpret or
understand the play.
• Six years old Larry
I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
Six years old; lived with his mother; parents had split up because father had
physically abused the children and mother.
Larry’s primary presenting problem was separation anxiety; simply refused to leave
his mother’s side. Would not go to school; would not sleep alone.
Family therapy had helped the mother and sister cope with their difficult
experiences and changes, but Larry continued to have problems.
The books to which she had turned for answers also had offered no solutions.
Larry was extremely resistant to entering the playroom at first; then he acquiesced.
He did not speak to [the psychologist] the whole time. But after 6 sessions, his
mother reported an almost complete cessation of the separation difficulties.
Somewhere within the process of being able to express himself in play, Larry was
able to emerge from his fixed place of confusion and hurt and move toward healing
and emotional health. It is unlikely that trying to get Larry to talk about his troubles
would have done any good; indeed, it was unnecessary since the process of play
effectively brought healing. As Larry’s case illustrates, play is the way children
process and express their emotional lives.
Dr. Garry Landreth, director of Center for
Play Therapy at the University of North
Texas: “Children’s play can be more fully
appreciated when recognized as their
natural medium of communication.
Children express themselves more fully and
more directly through self-initiated
spontaneous play than they do verbally
because they are more comfortable with
play.
For children to ‘play out’ their experiences
and feelings is the most natural dynamic
and self-experiences and feelings is the
most dynamic and self-healing process in
which children can engage.”
I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
•In their book The Power of Play, Frank Caplan and Theresa Caplan
summarize several unique attributes that children find appealing
about play:
•Play is a voluntary activity by nature. In a world full of
requirements and rules, play is refreshing and provides a respite
from everyday tension.
•Play is free from evaluation and judgment from adults. Children
are safe to make mistakes without failure and adult ridicule.
•It encourages fantasy
•It increases interest and involvement
•Play encourages the development of the physical and mental self
I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
History shows that children of every era have
played
•From the Black Plague of the Middle Ages
•Nazi concentration camp
I. CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
Children not only use play to comfort themselves
but also need play to make sense of and bring some
order to a nonsensical and out-of-control world.
Play forms a valuable bridge between the subjective
and objective.
Erik Erikson
Suggested that children
use play “to make up for
defeats, suffering and
frustrations, especially
those resulting from a
technically and culturally
limited use of language.”
Denise and Mark Wenton
“The instinctive method
children use for solving
problems and mastering
conflicts is play. Play is the
all-encompassing business
of childhood…”
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CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
THE THEOLOGY OF PLAY
CALLED TO PLAY
Daddy, Where’s God? I
want to play with him
now!
Andrew Conway
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CHILDREN COMMNICATE THROUGH PLAY
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
THE THEOLOGY OF PLAY
CALLED TO PLAY
THE DEVELOPMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
•Biological, such as hand-eye movement, expending of
energy, and kinesthetic stimulation;
•Intrapersonal, including a child’s need for function,
mastery over situations, and mastery over conflict;
•Interpersonal, including a child’s practice of separation
and individualization, and learning of social skills; and
•Socio-cultural, where children learn about culture and the
roles of those around them.
Play Therapy 1b
Play as Therapy
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PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAY
APPROACHES TO PLAY THERAPY
THE BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPY
THE HEALING POWER OF THE RELATIONSHIP
I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
“Enter into children’s play and you will find
the place where their minds, hearts, and
souls meet.” –Virginia Axline
I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
• Mary Ann’s case:
•sexually abused by multiple perpetrators
•seriously disturbed, often barking like a dog
and biting people.
•doctors to treat her with strong antipsychotic
medication.
• I cannot tell you that play therapy instantly cured Mary Ann.
But I can say this-it worked where nothing else had. She played
out her anxieties and victimizations. Medications were
discontinued. Eventually she was reunited with her mother.
•It was a matter of allowing a traumatized child to process
unthinkable horrors in her own way, in her own time, and in her
own language.
I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
•Making toys available to children does not
constitute play therapy.
•Garry Landreth defines play therapy as a “dynamic
interpersonal relationship between a child and a
therapist trained in play therapy procedures and
provides selected play materials and facilitates the
development of a safe relationship with a child to
fully express and explore self (feelings, thoughts,
experiences, and behaviors) through the child’s
natural medium of communication, play.”
I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
•The play therapist should provide selected play
materials.
•The play therapist must facilitate the development
of a safe relationship.
•Play therapy provides the opportunity for the child
to express and explore self more fully.
•Play therapy enables children to use their own
natural medium of communication – play.
I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
III. A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAY
•Sigmund Freud’s case of Little Hans: Freud did not
work directly with the five – year – old boy, but he
advised Han’s father about the different ways to
respond to him. Freud He used the father’s notes
about Hans’s play as a basis for interpretation and
counsel.
I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
III. A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAY
•Sigmund Freud’s
•The Center for Play Therapy at the University of
North Texas is a clearinghouse of play therapy
literature, featuring more than 2000 journal articles
and books about the field.
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PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAY
APPROACHES TO PLAY THERAPY
Examine the three leading approaches—
•Psychoanalytic
•Jungian
•Child – centered
Examine the three leading approaches—
•Psychoanalytic
•Jungian
•Child – centered
Examine the three leading approaches—
•Psychoanalytic
Psychoanalytic play therapy finds its roots in
Sigmund Freud’s case of Little Hans; Anna Freud used
play as a means of promoting children’s
verbalizations, while Klein believed that children’s
play was equivalent to the free associations of adult
clients. Anna Freud’s approach has dominated the
psychoanalytic approach to play therapy in this
country
Examine the three leading approaches—
•Psychoanalytic
•Jungian
Jungian (Carl Jung): this approach to play therapy is
based on the work of Jung and his personality theory
of the ego, the personal unconscious, and the
collective unconscious.
The Jungian therapist is also both observer and
participant, maintaining an “analytical attitude to
reflect on and comment about the psychological
issues with which the child is struggling.”
Interpretation is considered important and is
facilitated by comments and questions by the
therapist.
Examine the three leading approaches—
•Psychoanalytic
•Jungian
•Child – centered
Child-centered approach, based on theory by Carl Rogers:
the child-centered approach is based on the client-centered
work of Carl Rogers and was developed primarily by Virginia
Axline. The premise is that we all have within ourselves the
ability to solve our own problems and that we have within us
the innate striving for mature versus immature behavior.
The role of the child-centered therapist is to facilitate the
client’s growth, and as such, the counselor does not lead or
take responsibility for the direction of the play.
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V.
PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAY
APPROACHES TO PLAY THERAPY
THE BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPY
“play has the power not
only to facilitate normal
child development but
also to alleviate abnormal
behavior.”
Dr. Charles Schaefer
His list of benefits for Play
Therapy
Overcoming resistance. Play draws children,
involuntarily clients, into a working alliance.
Communication. Play is the natural medium of selfexpression.
Mastery. Play satisfies children’s need to explore and
master the environment.
Creative thinking. Play encourages children to
improve problem-solving skills.
Catharsis. In play, children can release intense
emotions that have been difficult of impossible to
confront.
Abreaction. Children can process and assimilate
trauma by reliving it with an appropriate expression
of emotion.
Role-play. Children have the opportunity to try out
alternative behaviors.
Fantasy. Play enhances the use of the child’s
imaginations to make sense of and overcome painful
reality.
Metaphoric teaching. Children can experience
adaptive solutions for their conflicts and fears
through metaphor.
Relationship enhancement. Play facilitates a positive
therapeutic relationship.
Enjoyment. Children fundamentally enjoy play.
Mastering developmental fears. Repeated play
experiences help reduce anxiety and fear through
systematic desensitization.
Game play. Games assist children in socialization and
developing ego controls.
V. THE BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPY
Garry Landreth asserts that play therapy helps the
child:
•Develop a more positive self-concept
•Assume greater self-responsibility
•Become more self-directing
•Become more self-accepting
•Become more self-reliant
•Engage in self-determined decision making
•Experience a feeling of control
•Become sensitive to the process of coping
•Develop an internal source of evaluation
•Become more trusting of self
I. PLAY THERAPY AS A FOUNDATIONAL TREATMENT
II. WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
III. A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAY
IV. APPROACHES TO PLAY THERAPY
V. THE BENEFITS OF PLAY THERAPY
VI. THE HEALING POWER OF THE RELATIONSHIP
Anthony and I Playing with the Lego Castle
Start to play
Crashed into the castle and destroyed it over and
over.
Play Therapy 1c
Play Therapy in Action
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WORKING WITH PARENTS
INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
THE PLAYROOM AND MATERIALS
THE PLAYROOM
WHAT ABOUT TOY WEAPONS IN THE
PLAYROOM?
I.
WORKING WITH PARENTS
Parents or Guardians: in traditional therapy, the
parents of clients may be only indirectly involved or
not involved at all. In play therapy, however, parents
will inevitably be a part of the process. It is frequently
parents who initiate counseling. Most parents want to
monitor the progress of their child’s therapy.
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WORKING WITH PARENTS
Parents or Guardians:
Play therapist Terry Kottman writes: “parents are
invaluable sources of information about the child’s
developmental history and interactional patterns.
I. WORKING WITH PARENTS
II. INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
first session is always with the parents
One danger in the gathering this information is that it
is tempting to rely on the assessment data rather than
to use clinical skills and intuition.
Questions parents will have:
•How often will the child becoming to sessions?
•How long will each session be?
•How much will each session cost?
•Will we talk to the play therapist? When and for how
long?
•What will go on during an actual session?
•Will we get to hear all about it?
•When can we expect to see the effects of the
treatment?
•How will we know if treatment is working?
•How long will treatment take from assessment to
termination?
I. WORKING WITH PARENTS
II. INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
III. THE PLAYROOM AND MATERIALS
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of
play then in a year of conversation.” --Plato
“See Handout”
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V.
WORKING WITH PARENTS
INTIAL MEETING WITH PARENTS
THE PLAYROOM AND MATERIALS
THE PLAYROOM
WHAT ABOUT TOY WEAPONS IN THE
PLAYROOM?
Do’s and Don’ts of Play Therapy for the
Therapist
Don’t
•Don’t criticize any behavior.
•Don’t praise the child.
•Don’t ask any leading questions.
•Don’t allow interruptions of the session.
•Don’t offer information or teach.
•Don’t preach.
•Don’t initiate new activities.
•Don’t be passive or quiet.
Do’s and Don’ts of Play Therapy for the
Therapist
Do
•Do set the stage.
•Do let the child lead.
•Do track behavior.
•Do reflect the child’s feelings.
•Do set limits.
•Do salute the child’s power and effort.
•Do join in the play as a follower.
•Do be verbally active.