A Parent's Guide to Understanding the Play Therapy Process
Children often come to play therapy due to symptoms or to help them make sense of life changes to prevent symptoms. Symptoms can be internalizing or acting out. Children express themselves through behavior. They may act out by getting into trouble at school or may internalize the problem as shown through crying episodes or withdrawal from previously fun activities. Play therapy allows children to express themselves in their behavior but in a healthy way. A wide variety of toys are made available in order for a child to choose how to begin dealing with the stressor in a way that works.
Depending on the child’s developmental level of when a stressor or trauma occurred, children may only have the language about the stressor at that particular developmental level. For example, a baby who witnesses trauma may not have language regarding what happened even when they are of 5 years of age. The memory was not encoded with language. Therefore, we would not expect them to report the event in a way that an adult would. Play therapy allows for a safe place of healthy expression where they can be understood and accepted.
Children love to play. Children are unable to communicate about their emotions in ways that adults do and this makes adult therapy usually inappropriate for meeting children’s needs. Play offers a vehicle for expression. Children can freely communicate to a skilled play therapist. Children can recreate their experiences that are part of their behavioral or emotional struggles. Through the use of play, children no longer have to worry about defending against expression. Most of us have had the experience of worrying about what we will say to others; play therapy encourages natural expression. For example, children going through a divorce may worry about protecting a particular family member but through play therapy they are able to have the freedom to express themselves separate from their family members.. Many children will recreate the emotional experiences they are struggling with through play.
Play therapy continues until a child gains a sense of understanding and comfort over their experiences. Children have an opportunity to reprocess the experience in a healthy way. This process is similar for adults in therapy in that many adults will continue to process an experience until they gain a healthy resolution. Some adults have this experience when they talk with friends about an experience until they find that they no longer have a need to reprocess their emotional reactions since it feels resolved.
There are many benefits to play therapy. Benefits will be evident as children’s symptoms resolve. Children may be able to change the way they perceive the world which will allow for enjoyment in the interaction of others. They will no longer have to express their difficulty through symptoms since they were able to reprocess their emotional struggles in play therapy.
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