Misbehave In The Adlerian Play Therapy

Within the helping profession, human behavior is known throughout the lenses of the theoretical orientations. The component that influences this orientation includes the unique personality of the counselor as professional and his/her way of conceptualizing the human condition (Corey, 2016). Browsing through the theories I find myself sharing common beliefs with the cognitive therapy and feminism, but my keen interest is answering the “why’s” by understanding the mental state, emotions, and behavior regarding their adaptive role. Meaning that I want to find the factors shaping the personality that we are dealing with. Additionally, I have strong beliefs that the family, society, culture, environment drive our actions and behaviors. And when

Every child has been yelled at by their parent or their guardian. Frequently, a child is guilty of misbehaving. Often, parents are screaming for no apparent reason. Each child has felt the fear rise from their toes to their brain worrying about what they could’ve done. Once they figured out it’s nothing they have done, children get confused. They

This paper will carry out a comparative analysis of the two most important psychological therapies, the Adlerian Therapy and the Gestalt Therapy.

Often, elementary school counselors are reluctant to suggest play therapy and have perceived barriers to its efficacy. This study surveyed 259 members of the American School Counselor Association about those barriers to implementing play therapy, and the potential solutions that could be used to overcome any reluctance. The typical barriers are logical: training, administration, time, resources, and space. It is not that the counselors as a whole do not believe in play therapy, it is that they cannot always find appropriate resources to implement the tool. The study raises the awareness that in the contemporary school in which budgets and resources are extremely tight, more training, educating faculty and administrators, and even using alternative or personal funds to purchase play therapy materials are often necessary to help students.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is widely known and utilized in the psychological field; however, Adlerian therapy, also known as individual psychology, is not universally known yet has roots that appear in CBT. In fact, Albert Ellis, founder of CBT, has acknowledged that Alfred Adler, founder of individual psychology, was one of the earliest therapists to emphasize the importance of understanding people’s thoughts, their observations of themselves, and their conscious experiences (Carlson, Maniacci, Watts, 2006). Therefore, a juxtaposition of CBT and Adlerian Therapy is warranted in order to evaluate the similarities and differences in conceptualization of client psychopathology, of their approach to treatment, and of how these therapies stand in terms of empirical evidence.

The therapy topic that I have selected is Adlerian Therapy also known as Individual Psychology. Adler about unity among self. This was one of the factors that contributed to him naming his theory Individual Psychology. The therapy was developed by Alfred Adler. Adler's key concepts are choice and responsibility, meaning in life, success, completion, and perfection. He believes that clients are not sick they are discouraged. Adler's philosophy is shaped by his upbringing. His early recollections specifically had an impact on the theory he created and is famous for.

Play is a way for children to learn about their environment and how interaction occurs within. It is through trial and error that children are able to create options; follow their own interests and show “independence in thought and actions” using their knowledge and understanding (Moyles, 2005, p.3). Children develop resilience though play. However for a number of children can experience stressful occurrences during their lives and play can often be restricted. Therefore the play worker’s role in supporting children’s play is a crucial measure towards children's development. For those that work with children require the dexterity to prompt and contribute to children’s play, which can be seen as a principle aspect of therapeutic alliance.

we're born with this idea that we're the center of the universe, we think everything responds to us. There's pervasiveness to it, a sense that the world serves you, and kids behave accordingly … Small children, by their very nature, are moral monsters. They're greedy, demanding, violent, destructive, selfish, impulsive and utterly remorseless. They fight with playmates and siblings constantly, biting, hitting and kicking at will, but screaming in pain and indignation if they're attacked in return. They expect to be adored but not disciplined, rewarded but never penalized, cared for and served by parents and family without caring or serving reciprocally … Sigmund Freud wrote that the earliest stage of a baby's life is defined by what he called ''primary narcissism'', which concords with Kluger's theory. He also writes that ''lack of empathy is easily the most important of these disagreeable traits, and in many ways is the hardest for babies to overcome''. (21, 27).

Adlerian therapy begins with an assessment of the patient which involves interview questions about family and childhood memories, according to Watts (2003). Patients will fill out questionnaires that asked questions relating to these memories. Based on the answers that were provided, the therapist will then help identify how family dynamics have influenced the patient’s sense of self and the world. Through assessment of personal history based on the questionnaire and answers provided, the therapist will help the patient realize where “mistakes” have been made in regards to self and world perception (Carlson, 2017).

The technique would be guiding the client to help themselves and re-learn, and think for themselves. The old thinking and behavior pattern should be looked on and disregarded making way for the positive lifestyles. Rather, it’s a long term or short term the Adlerian counseling is primarily interest is an interpretation, working with the client to understand what is occurring in their lives. The strength of a good therapy session would be encouraged, and variety of options for the client to experience over a period of time. The Adlerian therapy is to observe how the client is doing in their new life style. The individual would take on the perception of their past experiences and how they view themselves, rather it’s by others and the world.

While there are multiple studies on working with children with externalizing and anxiety issues in general, many of them do not investigate Adlerian play therapy. Adlerian play therapy says that “people are unique and creative, they strive toward belonging and connection with others, and they create fictional goals that influence their behaviors. Social interest is an important concept of Adlerian play therapy” (Meany-Walen, Kottman, Bullis & Taylor, 2015 ). In fact, 40% of the studies in this paper are the first of their kind. Many of the articles included in this review have limitations including small sample sizes, small age range, and teachers and caregivers being involved in the process of picking and evaluating students for these studies.

This research studied 2 groups of mother and child pairs. The children in this experimental study were children who displayed oppositional behaviors only and were not receiving treatment from other providers. All parents received parent management training. In one group the mothers were instructed to interact with their child by discussing events that had occurred in the past using language that described emotion and the results of behaviors. The other (control) group participated in child-directed play. The researchers hypothesized that both groups would see a reduction in oppositional behavior but that the non-control group would also see increases in emotional vocabulary and expressions in both the child and the parent. They believed that these increases would be observed in the children not only when interacting with the parent but with the researcher as well. (Salmon, Dadds, Allen & Hawes, 2009)

Thank you for your feedback and questions. First, I think that it is great to practice what we are learning. Play therapy has many different uses and would be applicable with elementary students' developmental level. Secondly, I'm not with you and cannot observe you or even know how to fully use it myself yet, as we are all learning. I think we just need to keep practicing and using what works for our own style and be willing to try new things that work for the students as well. However, play therapy focuses on reducing symptoms and removing barriers to support students' development (Henderson & Thompson, 2011). Some goals that play therapy addresses include building self-confidence, learning about self and others, expressing and identifying feelings, encourage good decision making, practice responsibility or control, exploration of different views, and learning skills such as problem-solving or relationship skills (Henderson & Thompson, 2011).

Understand, interpret, direct. This statement is an oversimplification of sorts, but defines the essence of Adlerian psychotherapy. From this minimal overview of Adlerian theory, we can begin to elaborate and explore the intricacies of individual psychology. Adlerians are concerned with understanding the unique and private beliefs and strategies of the individual (private logic and mistaken notions) that we create in childhood, and which serve as a reference for attitudes, private views of self, others and the world, and behavior (lifestyle). Therapeutic work with clients involves short-term and intensive work to increase social interest, to encourage a greater sense of responsibility for behavior, and to support behavioral change.

Before Adler’s theory about the psychology of growth in the 1920’s one widely accepted form of therapy was Freud’s psychoanalytic approach that posited physiological chemistry and sexual repression were the causes of neurosis. Freud’s psychoanalytic methodology was long and tedious, and focused more on the person as an individual outside and apart from society