I. Play therapy was derived historically from various psychological approaches.
A. Designed specifically for children, play therapy provides them with the opportunity to express their suppressed feelings such as anger, fear and frustration through playùa natural medium of expression--in a safe and nurturing therapeutic environment.
B. Child psychotherapists such as Anna Freud, Margaret Lowenfeld and Melanie Klein utilized children's spontaneous play in therapy as a substitute for psychoanalysis used with adults.
C. Building on Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy as a model, Virginia Axline formulated the non-directive or experiential play therapy for children, which is based on the complete acceptance of the children and the acknowledgement of their ability to solve their own problems without external impositions or pressures from the therapist.
II. Play therapy has many applications that are helpful for children and families in crisis.
Research studies have shown that play therapy, particularly non-directive play therapy, is effective for treating young children aged between three and 12 years: child witnesses of domestic violence, children living with at least one parent with substance abuse problems, children diagnosed with various types of mental disorders such as Conduct Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Because young children have not developed a sophisticated verbal capacity to engage in the conventional therapeutic process that involves language, play therapy enables children to use play as an alternative means of communication.
Young traumatized children also may experience difficulties with applying their developing abstract skills to utilize language to articulate their thoughts and feelings about disturbing events.
Through play therapy, children are able to utilize the symbolic components of play in order to explore, experience and process disturbing feelings and thoughts, without ...