After reading this article you will learn about the play therapy for curing children suffering from anger, aggression, hostility, fear and jealousy.
Play therapy has been very effective in curing children because children like to play with spontaneity and this is a very natural method of treatment. The anger, aggression, hostility, fear, jealousy and suppressed emotion of the child dangerous for his personality development can be released and channelized through play therapy.
Therefore it is said play has a therapeutic value. Even excessive aggression and hostility in adults can be channelized through play therapy.
The tendency of the children to re-enact their feelings in new situations facilitates the early appearance of spontaneous and global transference reactions which may be otherwise harmful for the personality and mental health of the child. Thus play has tremendous therapeutic usefulness.
For play therapy a suitable well planned play room is most essential for child psychotherapy. The number of toys and other items should be carefully selected keeping in view the problems of the child.
While some view that the play room should consist of a small number of toys and play materials, others are of opinion that a wide variety of play materials should be made available to increase the range of feelings that the child may like to express.
Some dolls are to be specially designed keeping in view the main objectives of the therapy. Although individual considerations are necessary while selecting dolls for play therapy, by and large, for a well balanced play room, the following items are required.
Dolls of various races, additional dolls representing special roles and feelings such as policeman, doctor, soldier, doll house furnished with or without a doll, toy animals, puppets, different toys like aero plane, train, car, truck, scissors, tools like rubber hammers, rubber knives, building blocks, paper weight and eating utensils etc.
These toys should help the children to communicate, express and project their reprocessed and suppressed feelings through play.
It is suggested that mechanical and clay toy should be avoided as far as practicable as they break readily and thereby contribute to the guilt feeling of children. Depending upon the problem of the child, a particular and specific approach can be decided by the therapist to be used in play therapy. The individual style and perception of the child’s needs by the therapists also determines the success of the technique.
In play therapy the therapist has quite an important role as he endeavours to divert the child’s thought content and activity as in release therapy, some behavioural therapy and certain educational patterning techniques. In some way play therapy can also be called release therapy. Though in play therapy the child determines the focus, it remains the therapists’ responsibility to structure the situation.
When a child is encouraged to say whatever he wishes and to play freely as in exploratory psychotherapy, it establishes a definite structure. The therapists’ responsibility is to create an atmosphere in which he hopes to know all about the child, the good and evil, his palatable and unpalatable qualities.
The therapist has to play an indirect role in play therapy. He has to observe and note the behavioural action of the child. He need not get angry or pleased at what the child does. He need not make any specific comment on his activities in the play room. He should only try to understand the child, his action, projection of his feelings and emotions and suppressed and repressed tendencies during play.
He should not project his personal feelings and emotions on the child. His basic purpose would be to understand the child, from his play activities so that further steps can be taken to solve his personal, emotional and personality problems.
The child should be made to realize the above facts so that he can play spontaneously and freely without fear and restraint. Play therapy can make explicit the thoughts, feelings and emotions of the child, represent suppression which prove dangerous to the child.
It can help the child to develop a conscious attitude. By and large in play therapy involvement of the parents, teachers and therapist is essential to make it a grand success. An individual expresses his emotions in a society in acceptable manner through play.
The tensions, conflicts and frustrations arising out of unfulfilled wishes of a person can be released in a desirable and acceptable manner only through play. Emotions like fear, anger, hatred, jealousy and love etc. are expressed and released through play which otherwise would not have been possible due to the values, norms and restrictions of the society.
As a consequence of this the frustrations, aggressions, dominance tendency, tensions and various problems of day to day life are reduced/solved giving satisfaction to the person concerned. The instability of a child or an adult is also reduced in play therapy. Play being a great medium of self-expression helps a lot in the normal personality development of a child.
Like dream being the royal road to unconscious, by observing an individual during play a lot can be known about his personality problems. Through play one can realize him, analyse him and criticize him. Hence play as a technique of therapy has tremendous importance for diagnosis and treatment of problems of children and adults.