Play Therapy Effective Treatment For Children With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay

Play therapy is a form of therapy where children can’t act out their fantasies and express their feelings or experiences and are simply encouraged to do so through play, abetted by a therapist's interpretations.

When I was 18, I was involved in a car accident that almost took my life, this caused me to fall into depressive state while I attended college. The depression was due to not knowing who I was as a person without football. Before the accident every aspect of my life revolved around the sport, and I was highly scouted to come the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and play football. It was this whirlwind of emotions constantly plaguing my mind by being immersed in a place that reminded me of something that I could no longer experience. With the assistance of a counselor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, I was able to begin healing. This was a turning point in my life, and it was these sessions that sparked my interest in the field of psychology.

play therapy experiences for children to help reduce anxiety and fear. Additionally, they can help

The paper topic is focused on how play therapy can help children develop their behavioral and emotional structures. The primary research question for the paper is Can Play Therapy help children with emotional and behavioral issues get better? The primary hypotheses for this paper are: If play therapy can help a child overcome his self-esteem issues, then it can help the child grow emotionally and if play therapy can help a child overcome his self-esteem issues, then it can help the child grow a strong behavioral structure. The paper is divided into an introduction which gives a brief background of the topic, literature review which focuses on the results of 10 recent studies with familiar topics, the methods section, and the results sections which provides the primary results of the study and the discussions section which illustrates the lessons learnt from conducting this study as well as the differences and limitations of the study alongside the new directions that similar researches in the future could look to explore.

10). According to Landreth (2012), “Play therapy… facilitates the development of a safe relationship for the child… to fully express and explore self (feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors) through play, the child’s natural medium of communication, for optimal growth and development”

It is a sad statistic that a great number of children suffer traumatic events such as domestic violence; abuse; rape; violent crime; natural disasters, war, or the death of loved ones under traumatic situations. Countless experience several types of trauma. Although some children exhibit amazing strength in the aftermath of these incidents, many have pain or develop psychological issues that can be long lasting, and very serious... Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is parts -based

TF-CBT consists of both individual child and parent sessions and child-parent sessions. There are eight components to TF-CPT represented by the acronym PRACTICE (Cohen, et al, 2008). One of the core principles of TF-CBT is that of “gradual exposure” in that each of the components involves a graded exposure to the traumatic experience. As the child and parent move through the hierarchy, the intensity of the exposure increases. The use of gradual exposure in decreasing PTSD symptoms is supported by research (Kendall, Chansky, Kane, Kim, Kortlander & Ronan, 1992). This can be done in a number of ways, including the use of creative media in order to develop a trauma narrative and also to desensitize the child to trauma triggers within a safe therapeutic environment (Yule, Smith & Perrin, 2005). In particular, sand play therapy has been shown to be clinically useful for children in processing abuse and violence (Grubbs, 1994; Parson, 1997). The therapist can help the child to learn that they can approach their fears without consequences, leading to a reduction in both anxiety and trauma symptoms in their everyday life.

The issue about choosing the most appropriate intervention with a specific population such as children, is a struggle that many clinicians face when treating children with PTSD. Cohen, et al. (2001) found that the majority of child psychiatrists prefer to use psychodynamic/psychoanalytic therapy interventions and psychotropic medications with children presenting PTSD symptoms, while non-medical clinicians prefer to integrate other types of interventions such as play therapy. In regards to the fact that physicians prefer to use medications and other well-known interventions such as psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy, Muris & Merckelbach (1999) suggest that many physicians are more resistant to the new treatment modalities including EMDR and others because these types of interventions are less discussed in medical journals compared to nonmedical ones. On the other hand, Cohen, et al. (2001) suggest that physicians do not use new methodologies of interventions because they are not effective, instead they don’t feel comfortable using treatments that were not part of their professional training.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of play therapy on trauma victims. Most literature on play therapy implies that play therapy can yield to be beneficial to children who have experienced some form of a traumatic event. In this review we will discuss what is play therapy? and why it is important?

Haslam, D., Harris, S. (2011). Integrating Play and Family Therapy Methods: A Survey of Play

I enjoyed reading your essay. I like to briefly discussion Post-traumatic stress disorder treatment in children. There is a larger amount of research conducted on the treatment of trauma-related symptoms for children. Moverover, research into the treatment of PTSD among children is relatively new compared with the research conducted on the symptoms of PTSD and effective treatments for this disorder among adults (Lieberman, Chu,Van Horn, & Harris, 2011), Children tend to be referred for treatment either because of behavior problems or because of known exposure to a discrete pathogenic event. For instance, exposure to previously unreported stressful and traumatic events (Lieberman et.al, 2011). Traumatic experiences may damage the child's

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.

Unstructured play therapy is of benefit and used for stressed children. This type of therapy promotes expression of feelings, and it blocks the competitiveness many children are used to participating in. With the inability to claim a winner, it places the child at ease, and there is no judgment on performance. As the child destresses, the self-image will improve, and the comfort of the child will improve as to when they were first admitted. According to Potasz (2013), “It is unstructured play that particularly permits children to control events, ideas, and relationships. Furthermore, unstructured play is one of many activities that may be adapted to a wide age range, functioning as a useful strategy to promote health and well-being” (p. 72).

All participants were administered the CANS assessment tool as a pretest to determine their levels of severity. All qualifying participants scored moderate to high levels of traumatic stress symptoms. At the initial meeting, the children were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental groups. Participants in the experimental group were to meet every even week for one hour of play therapy, and every odd week to one hour of traditional counseling. During play therapy sessions the children had access to dolls and dollhouses, dress-up, art supplies, puppets, animals, music and other toys. Those in the control group would meet for traditional counseling every other week for one hour. At the assigned times, participants in the experimental group attended individual sessions of play therapy. On the alternate weeks they attended individual counseling with a therapist. Children in the control group met with a therapist for individual one hour sessions every other week. At the end of the six month period all participants were given the CANS trauma computation to reassess their levels of

In the selected case study, The mode of therapeutic intervention will take the Gestalt Play Therapy focus. The interaction between Jacob and I will be an open dialogue with straightforward caring, warmth, acceptance, and self-responsibility that specifically focuses on inclusion, with me fully present in the experience of Jacob, where I will not judge, analyze, or interpret what is observed. My presence refers to expressing observations, preferences, feelings, personal experience, and thoughts to Jacob. Commitment to dialogue will present the opportunity to encourage a sense of connection between Jacob and me. Our dialogue will be active and nonverbal or verbal. It can be any modality that expresses and moves