Play Therapy - the Art of the Relationship - Essay Example

Play therapy is beneficial in a number of different ways. Firstly, it is very beneficial to children. Much like verbal therapy can help adults through some difficult issues in their lives, play therapy can be a huge factor in the proper development for a child. Since children have a difficult time expressing themselves verbally, therapists must come up with alternative methods of learning how a child is feeling. One of the most natural actions for a child is to play and it is the therapist’s job to watch the child play and to help him or her by using the child’s actions as words. By giving the child a variety of different toys, including dolls, stuffed animals, and paints, the therapist is able to watch the child’s interactions with the toys in order to see how he or she feels. When something difficult happens in a child’s life, he or she may not yet have the verbal skills to properly express his or her feelings. Play therapy allows for the therapist to get beyond this verbal barrier and into the issues that could be plaguing the child’s development. For example, if a child is angry about something, he or she will act more aggressively towards the toys and might even get to the point of being destructive, whereas a depressed child might not even feel like playing with the toys. The style of therapy is supposed to help the child to come to grips with his or her limitations and capabilities and help the child to learn about him or her self and about life in general. It can also be a helpful tool in the child developing communication skills, as the therapist will be there communicating with the child throughout this process, “which must take place between children and the counsellor if the time together is to be a therapeutic experience” (Landreth, Play Therapy: Dynamics of the Process of Counseling with Children 45). Studies have shown that play therapy is effective in helping with many different social, behavioural, emotional, and educational problems. These problems include depression, anger, apprehension, demeanour disorders, abuse issues, aggressive behaviour, post-traumatic stress disorders, low self-esteem issues, poor social skills, impulsive behaviour, learning disorders, divorce issues, and handling traumatic experiences. Over time, the original ideas of play therapy have “merged almost completely into a newer therapeutic attitude, the nondirective approach (Landreth, Play Therapy: Dynamics of the Process of Counseling with Children 71) where “the therapist may leave responsibility and direction to the child (Landreth, Play Therapy: Dynamics of the Process of Counseling with Children 354). This new form of play therapy is beneficial in a number of ways that will be discussed here. This form of therapy is also beneficial to the parents of the children. Parents who are constantly dealing with children who are in need of help have a lot of unwanted stress brought into their lives. This stress can overflow into other areas of their lives, making life more difficult than it needs to be, since “what happens in the parents workplace, for example, could profoundly affect the environment of the child” (Cattanach 63). Play therapy can help the parent to get to the root of the problem and get the proper help for the child, as “the therapist trains and supervises parents as they conduct special child-centred play therapy sessions with their own children” (Cattanach 56). This is also a relatively inexpensive form of therapy, which is also a major plus for any parent. Any inexpensive, yet highly effective form of treatment for a problem child is something that parents will cherish as it will help to remove unwanted stress from their lives. Limitations are a part of play therapy because it is important for the child to have limits on what he or she is allowed to do. Some of the more common limitations include that they are not permitted to destroy any property other than play equipment, physically attack the therapist, stay beyond the given time limit, or remove any of the toys from the playroom. Children need these limitations placed upon themselves in order for them to feel safe in their environment. They should have the feeling that the adults in their lives are protecting them and they need consistent rules in order to ensure this feeling of protection. A child that is not limited does will not feel safe because he or she would feel alone in the environment. It is very important for the therapist to find a common ground between too many limitations and not enough of them. A good therapist will have as few limitations as possible, since the play therapy should be “child directed in which the therapist is non-directive in approach allowing the child to direct the agenda, focus and timing of the play therapy“ (Cattanach 49), but also not too few of them either. The purpose of limitations is to make sure that the therapy session does not become a free for all where the child can pick up some extremely bad habits, as “self-control cannot be learned until an opportunity to exercise self-control occurs (Landreth, Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship 248). Since children can pick things up at such a high rate at this age, it is important not to let them get too out of control and make their parents’ job that much harder in the future. In order for the therapist to properly enforce these limitations, he or she must not give in to the child. If the child is always given his or her own way, the child will not follow the limitations and the therapy session will be less affective. At the same time, however, the child must also not be given too many limitations that he or she is afraid to act out in any way because if that were to happen, the therapist would not learn anything about the child. The entire purpose of this sort of therapy is to learn about the child so the proper limitations are a very important part of this process, since “the growth potential in children cannot be maximized in settings where children feel insecure. When no boundaries exist children feel insecure and usually experience anxiety” (Landreth, Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship 250). Some important facts to remember come from therapist Virginia Axline’s rules on non-directive play therapy. First of all, the therapist must have a good relationship with the child. If the child does not enjoy being around the therapist, he or she will not be comfortable to act naturally and, therefore, the therapist “asks no probing questions, except, possible, ‘Do you want to tell me about it?’” (Axline 119). If the child is not acting naturally, then the therapy is a waste of time. Also, the therapist must know to accept the child as he or she is and the therapist should be careful “not to confuse a limitation with a pressure device. There is no desire on the part of the non-directive therapist to exert pressure to bring about change in the child” (Axline 113). There is no point in trying to completely alter the child’s behaviour because in that case, the therapist will not be getting an accurate interpretation of what the child is actually like. Altering the child’s behaviour is a short term answer to a long term problem and it will not accomplish anything. It should be the therapist’s goal to establish a relationship where the child is always comfortable expressing him or her self in an open manner, since “in the warm and friendly relationship which the counsellor establishes, the client is enabled to face himself squarely, feeling secure in this genuinely co-operative relationship” (Axline 27). Without this openness, the therapist will not be able to obtain an accurate view of the child’s feelings. At the same time, the therapist must concentrate enough to properly interpret the child’s actions in an attempt to properly analyze the child’s feelings. While doing this, the therapist must also allow the child to solve everything on his or her own. It is the child’s job to lead the session and the therapist’s job to follow along and interpret what is happening. The child is required to make his or her own choices about everything, while the therapist is just there to observe. It is also important for the therapist to take the proper amount of time to explore the child’s reactions to all different types of problems, as “play therapy sessions have proved helpful in untangling study problems by enabling the child to explore his feelings and attitudes” (Axline 59). A proper diagnosis cannot be rushed along and must be given the proper amount of time to develop. An important fact for parents to remember is to turn it into a fun experience for the children. Tell them that they are going out to play and they will hopefully enjoy the experience and will act natural while they are in the playroom. Parents must also realize that it is very important to show their children that they care in order for the therapy to go ahead properly. They should make the child feel loved and relaxed not only right before visits to play therapy, but all the time. At the same time, however, “the play therapist would also teach the parents to encourage the child to get his or her needs for significance and belonging met in ways that do not relate to power and control” (Schaefer and OConnor 6). Children need to feel secure around their parents so doing things like making a big deal out of birthdays, playing with them, setting boundaries that keep them safe, allowing them to express feelings while also deterring bad or destructive behaviour, and frequent hugging are good ways to make the child feel comfortable with his or her surroundings. This “structuring teaches the child that parents are trustworthy and predictable as they help define and clarify the childs experience” (OConnor 40). While studies have shown that play therapy is an effective way for children to learn about themselves and develop in a positive manner, it also has its problems. Everything that the therapist finds is based on his or her opinion of the child’s actions, as “the role of play therapy has been debated at length, the issue resting on whether play is inherently therapeutic or requires interpretation in order to have therapeutic impact” (OConnor and Braverman 53). Since different therapists could have different interpretations of a certain child’s actions, this practice is hardly an exact Science. Children can be so unpredictable and their moods can change so quickly that it can be very difficult for a therapist to be certain that a child is suffering from a certain disorder or is experiencing a certain emotion. The entire idea of play therapy is based on the idea that certain actions mean certain emotions but without any sort of verbal communication, it is very difficult to be certain if the interpretation is correct. A way to combat this, however, is if “the therapist does not make direct interpretations of play but stays within the symbolism expressed in play, until the child is ready to move on” (McMahon 31). Despite these shortcomings, however, play therapy remains one of the most effective ways of helping children to overcome obstacles in their early developmental years. Since they do not yet have the communications skills to actively express what is going through their minds, the only really way to get an idea of how a child is feeling is through observation. Since children go into their own little world and do not have much awareness of the outside world when they are playing, this is the perfect time to observe them. When playing, a child is acting like him or her self, without any outside distractions to influence his or her behaviour. Also since playing is generally regarded as a fun activity, if a child does not seem happy, then there must be some relatively serious anxiety issues with the child. The cost of this sort of therapy is also much less than other types of therapies for children so it is less of a burden on the parents’ finances. There is so much more going on in the mind of a child than they are consciously able to communicate to an adult, but it is impossible to give the child the support that he or she needs without some way of figuring out what is wrong. Play therapy is one of the best methods around of getting to know what is going on in the life of a child, even if the child does not know what he or she is feeling. It is highly recommended that children who are in need of therapy get the help that they need and play therapy provides that help. Works Cited Axline, Virginia M. Play Therapy. Toronto: Random House. 1969. Cattanach, Ann. Introduction to Play Therapy. East Sussex: Brunner-Routledge. 2003. Landreth, Garry L. Play Therapy: Dynamics of the Process of Counseling With Children. Springfield, Ill: Charles C. Thomas. 1982. Landreth, Garry L. Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship. East Sussex: Brunner Routledge. 2002. McMahon, Linnet. The Handbook of Play Therapy. London: Routledge. 1992. OConnor, Kevin J. The Play Therapy Primer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2000. OConnor, Kevin J. and Braverman, Lisa Mages. Play Therapy Theory and Practice: A Comparative Presentation. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1997. Schaefer, Charles E. and OConnor, Kevin J. Handbook of Play Therapy Volume Two: Advances and Innovations. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 1994. Read More