PLAY THERAPY

INTRODUCTION
Play therapy is a form of counseling or psychotherapy. That uses play to
communicate with and help people, especially children, to prevent or resolve psychosocial
challenges.

 Play is a child's natural medium to learn, communicate and explore their world.
 Play Therapy allows children to explore feelings and make sense of and recover from
difficult life experiences in a safe and trusting environment
 it is a primarily non-verbal approach.
 Age range of mostly children's are 2 to 12 But it vary for example cognitive or
developmental delay may participate in play therapy at an older chronological age.
 Time of session 30 to 50 minute but it vary
 Mild issues may improve in 6 to 12 session, complex issues may require up to 40 to 80
sessions.
Goals of play therapy:

 Develop a more positive self-concept

 Assume greater self-responsibility
 Become more self-accepting
 Become more self-directing
 Become more self-reliant
 Become more trusting of self
 Experience a feeling of control
 Become sensitive to the process of coping
 Develop an internal source of evaluation
 Engage in self-determined decision making

HISTORY OF PLAY THERAPY

 Early 1900s, Melanie Klein and Anna Freud included play in psychoanalytic treatment of
children
 Klein (1961, 1987) stipulated that a child's spontaneous play was a substitute for the free
association used within adult psychoanalysis.
 In the 1940's, Carl Rogers established a new model of psychotherapy client centered
therapy
 Relationship between therapist and client based upon genuineness, acceptance and trust.
 Axline (1971) developed a new therapeutic approach for working with children directive
Play Therapy.
  Utilizing the person centered theoreti foundations, Axline formulated a clear and concise
Play Therapy theory and method.
 In 1964 she wrote a book named as Dibs: In search of self, which describes how she
worked with Dibs and how he was able to heal himself over a period of time.
 She said "No-one ever knows as much about a human being's inner world as the
individual himself. Responsible freedom grows and develops from inside the person".
Theoretical Basis of Play Therapy
Play Therapy is based upon three critical theoretical principles:
Actualization: Humans are motivated by an innate tendency to develop constructive and healthy
capacities.
The Need for Positive Regard: All people require warmth, respect and acceptance from others,
especially from 'significant others'.
Play as Communication: Children use play as their primary medium of communication. Play is
a format for transmitting children's emotions, thoughts, values and perceptions.
AXLINE'S BASIC PRINCIPLES OF NON- DIRECTIVE PLAY THERAPY
The therapist:
 Must develop a warm and friendly relationship with the child.
 Accepts the child as she or he is
 Establishes a feeling of permission in the relationship Is alert to recognize the feelings
the child is expressing and reflects these feelings back in such a manner that the child
gains insight into his/her behavior.
 Maintains a deep respect for the child's abilit solve his/her problems and gives the child
the opportunity to do so.
 Does not attempt to direct the child's actions or conversations in any manner.
 Does not hurry the therapy along.
 Only establishes those limitations necessary to anchor the therapy to the world of reality
and to make the child aware of his/her responsibility in the relationship.
Procedure of play therapy The play Room:
 The necessary elements within the play room are: the child, the therapist, the relationship
formed by the child and therapist, the play therapy room and the play room contents.
 The play therapy space is usually a designated room, set up in a particular and
predictable way.
 Within the room, there are a wide range of expressive tool and toys.
 toys including craft materials, dress-ups: masks, musical instruments, puppets, toy
animals, toy weapons and military characters, superheroes, books, vehicles, building
blocks, a dollhouse and dolls, balloons and balls and table.
 Therapy room as needing to contain something to represent everything in the child's
world.
 Guerney (2001) outlined that a range of toys allow a child to understand that a range of
behaviors are permitted in the playroom.
 Toys that support issues of aggression, regret independence and mastery are as important
as toys that foster nurturing, acceptance and contentment.
Therapeutic Stages in Play Therapy
There are several stages in play therapy.
First stage is
Intake interview
First meeting with your child's play therapist, during which questions about your
child's early development, current functioning and presenting problem will asked. It is very
important to be as open and honest as possible.
This intake interview foundation of the play therapy understanding of both your child's
difficulties and the treatment plan.
pre-treatment assessment:
Depending on the presenting complaints the therapist may conduct an assessment.
This can be as simple as having you complete some rating scales and/or your child
completing questionnaires and drawings. the assessment process provides the play therapist
additional information about your child's difficulties and best ways to treat them. The first
few sessions are referred to the
Introduction phase. During this phase your child will be getting used to the play therapist,
the playroom, and the play therapy process. The more shy or anxious your child is, the more
difficult this period may be.
Tentative Acceptance: This stage begins after one to several sessions and is the period when
you or your child feels eager to go to counseling. You are noticing some positive changes.
Your child is excited about interacting with his or her counselor and looks forward to
entering the room.
As play therapy begins some changes occur. changes are necessary, and may not be easy.
Initially, change makes all of us uncomfortable. We are trying to behave in ways we are not
used to and we attempts to engage in healthy new behaviors or attempts to retreat to older,
 more comfortable patterns. This is called the Negative Reaction phase. Some children pass
through this phase with virtually no problems.
Growth
This is the most important and, usually the longest, part of the play therapy process. During
this phase your child will come to understand his or her difficulties, how to best resolve.
those difficulties and how to live a much happier and playful life. Surprisingly, this phase can
be a bit difficult for parents.
Termination phase.
The final stage of therapy begins when you and the therapist are confident that behavioral
and emotional functioning are stable enough to maintain what you and/or your child has
accomplished. This can be both an exciting and difficult time the end of therapy is a sign of
success, it is also the ending of the therapeutic relationship.
PLAY THERAPY IS EFFECTIVE FOR
 psychosocial issues, such as shyness, anxiety, stress, poor communication, grief and
loss;
 behavioral problems such as aggression, poor motor co-ordination, self-harming,
and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder;
 responses to family and relationship problems, such as family violence, parental
separation, attachment disorders, trauma and abuse;
 educational issues such as poor organizational skills, poor planning and execution of
tasks, poor story comprehension, and
 disability including autism, psychosis, sensory impairment and intellectual
impairment.
PLAY THERAPY TECHNIQUES
Improving self confidence:
Pretend play
Allow a child to create a puppet show to express the difficulty they are having. i.e afraid
of darkness.
Goal
Help the child to think how to cope up with his fear of dark. Build self confidence to help them
Encourage Independence
When a situation arises in which the child states he can't do it or wants you to do it for him,
encourage the child to do the activity. Praise any effort he makes. i.e cutting something seizure.
Goal

 To build self confidence

 Improve self esteem

Self-Awareness
Ask question to child and help them aware of himself. who they are, what kinds of
things they like, what they are good at, and what makes them happy, sad, or mad.
Goal

 Becoming more self aware

 Accept their own answers

Feeling word game

Use for those children's who have difficulty in verbalizing when direct ask about her feelings.
When involved in playing a game, children's defenses are reduced, and they are more likely to
talk about their feelings.
Materials needed: eight 4 6-in. pieces of paper, a marker, and a tin filled with poker chips.
Procedure: The therapist writes each of the child's feeling words on a separate piece of paper. If
the child cannot read, the therapist should also draw a face representing the feeling. Then tell
story related the feeling that have both positive and negative outcome. Then ask the next story to
the child.
Balloon of Anger
It help children to understand what is anger and how to release it appropriately. It allows the
children to see how anger can build up inside of them and how, if it is not released slowly and
safely, anger can explode and hurt themselves or others.
Materials needed:balloons.
Procedure: the child blows up a balloon, and then the therapist helps tie it. Second, the therapist
explains that the balloon represents the body, and that the air inside the balloon represents anger.
The therapist asks the child, "Can air get in or out of the balloon?" "What would happen if this
anger (air) was stuck inside of you?"
Relaxation Training: Bubble Breaths
Bubble Breaths is an extremely useful and concrete relaxation technique designed to teach
children deep and controlled breathing while helping them become aware of their own mind-
body connections.
Materials needed: bubbles (either commercial or homemade)
Procedure: Ask the child to blow only one big bubble. Ask to children to take deep breaths from
the stomach and slowly exhale. Next explains to the children that when they become angry or
anxious, the brain wants more air, but the lungs are working too hard being upset to provide it.
However, if they breathe deeply, their brain will tell their heart to slow and the lungs will work
better. The therapist then tells the children that if they take bubble breaths when they start to
become angry, nervous, or tense, they can often prevent angry behaviors from happening