Play Therapy With Abused Children

This second edition explores the use of play therapy with abused children as a way of helping them heal their distress and make sense of their experiences through expanding their own creativity in play. The book provides practical ways of starting play therapy with abused children and explains how the child can use this process for healing.

This book describes how therapists can both facilitate constructive play therapy and intervene in posttraumatic play to help children who have been traumatized by abuse or neglect achieve a positive resolution. Traditional techniques of play therapy are reviewed for their application to this population. Throughout, numerous therapeutic aids are described to enhance the child's capacity to communicate verbally or symbolically. To help clinicians translate theory into daily practice, the book presents six detailed clinical vignettes that offer step-by-step guidelines for assessment and intervention in different situations of abuse or neglect.

Praise for the first edition: `Ann Cattanach writes with enormous empathy and warmth, and with a refreshing lack of sentimentality ... [This] is an unpretentious and optimistic book, and a very positive addition to recent publications.' - British Association of Play Therapists `I would recommend the book to anyone working in this field... This is a well presented, clear and easy-to-read book, providing a balanced mixture of factual information and case material.' - British Journal of Occupational Therapy `What impressed me so much about this work was Cattanach's knowledge of children and their inherent strengths as well as their vulnerabilities... This practical and easy to apply book is recommended for anyone who works with abused children and would like further insight as well as practical and informative advice on healing the traumatized child.' - Trauma and Loss: Research and Interventions `Her accounts of the way in which play is used to make sense of traumatic experiences are full of insight and often moving. All aspects of the work are covered... This is an exceptional volume...goes far beyond a mere text book.' - Therapy Weekly This second edition of Ann Cattanach's highly commended book explores the use of play therapy with abused children as a way of helping them heal their distress and make sense of their experiences through expanding their own creativity in play. The book provides practical ways of starting play therapy with abused children and explains how the child can use this process for healing. Models of intervention are described with consideration given to the particular needs of the child and the work setting of the therapist. Suggestions include short and medium term interventions, individual/group and sibling work. This edition provides new case study material, up-to-date information on relevant legislation on children's rights and welfare and recent developments in research in the field. This book is essential reading for professionals working with abused children, as well as those interested in the use of creative therapies.

Here is a disguised but tragically accurate account of a 7-year-old boy who was repeatedly victimized by two uncles who penetrated him, required him under threat of violence to act upon them, and forced him to have sexual contact with his sister for their entertainment. Before his ongoing abuse was discovered, the child made several serious suicide attempts. Verbatim accounts of the child's therapy are used to illustrate a new treatment approach for abused children, Synergistic Play Therapy, which follows the work of Haim Ginott and Heinz Werner. Much that is written about play therapy focuses on theoretical notions or intuitive, impressionistic judgment. Seldom does a work make clear the rationale by which play strategies and techniques are derived from underlying constructs. This book links theoretical reasoning with the specific dos and don'ts of clinical practice. The purpose, rationale, and impact for interventions are woven into session transcripts and related to the concepts upon which Synergistic Play Therapy is based. Topics covered include rapport building and the beginning of restoration of the child's trust in an adult male, therapeutic contact negotiation, the introduction of metaphor, indirect referencing of the trauma and the process building toward explicit emotional disclosure and metaphoric retribution, the restoration of self-esteem, 'emotional inoculation' against regression, and the emergence of a future-oriented perspective characterized by confidence and hopefulness. Therapists need a clearly defined and well-documented set of guidelines for the treatment of sexually abused children. Abused children become adult perpetrators in numbers disproportionate to the rest of the population, but this dire statistic holds true only for those victims who have not been effectively helped as children. This book offers a means to provide such treatment.

Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy (CBPT) incorporates cognitive and behavioral interventions within a play therapy paradigm. It provides a theoretical framework based on cognitive-behavioral principles and integrates these in a developmentally sensitive way. Thus, play as well as verbal and nonverbal approaches are used in resolving problems. CBPT differs from nondirective play therapy, which avoids any direct discussion of the child's difficulties. A specific problem-solving approach is utilized, which helps the child develop more adaptive thoughts and behaviors. Cognitive-behavioral therapies are based on the premise that cognitions determine how people feel and act, and that faulty cognitions can contribute to psychological disturbance. Cognitive-behavioral therapies focus on identifying maladaptive thoughts, understanding the assumptions behind the thoughts, and learning to correct or counter the irrational ideas that interfere with healthy functioning. Since their development approximately twenty-five years ago, such therapies have traditionally been used with adults and only more recently with adolescents and children. It has commonly been thought that preschool-age and school-age children are too young to understand or correct distortions in their thinking. However, the recent development of CBPT reveals that cognitive strategies can be used effectively with young children if treatments are adapted in order to be developmentally sensitive and attuned to the child's needs. For example, while the methods of cognitive therapy can be communicated to adults directly, these may need to be conveyed to children indirectly, through play activities. In particular, puppets and stuffed animals can be very helpful in modeling the use of cognitive strategies such as countering irrational beliefs and making positive self-statements. CBPT is structured and goal oriented and intervention is directive in nature.

Presenting an integrative model for treating traumatized children, this book combines play, art, and other expressive therapies with ideas and strategies drawn from cognitive-behavioral and family therapy. Eliana Gil demonstrates how to tailor treatment to the needs of each child by using both directive and nondirective approaches. Throughout, practical clinical examples illustrate ways to target trauma-related symptomatology while also helping children process painful feelings and memories that are difficult to verbalize. The book concludes with four in-depth cases that bring to life the unique situation of each child and family, the decision-making process of the therapist, and the applications of developmentally informed, creative, and flexible interventions.

Trauma and Play Therapy synthesizes new developments in the study of children’s trauma recovery to assist clinicians in combining play therapy with other powerful ways of addressing the needs of hurt children. The TraumaPlayTM model, formerly known as Flexibly Sequential Play Therapy, equips practitioners to manage and adapt aspects of the play therapy place and process in order to help children tell their stories while draining the emotional toxicity from traumatic experiences. Chapters explore the neurobiological and developmental foundations of play therapy as well as strategies for navigating children’s trauma in relation to specific aspects of play therapy such as sensory integration, metaphor, and humor. Enriched by a tapestry of illustrative case examples and tools for therapists, this is a vital new book for clinicians working at the intersection of play and children’s trauma.

"This guide to working with abused children and young people will be valued by professionals and therapists from a range of backgrounds, including psychotherapists, play therapists and arts therapists, as well as those responsible for children's services."--BOOK JACKET.