Play As Psychological Therapy – Being Parents

When it comes to children, psychology has specific methodologies. Play as psychological therapy involves the therapist connecting to the child’s language. Through these activities, the latter begins to process his moods and manages to establish himself as a subject in relation to himself and to others.

The transfer or empathy between patient and professional will take place when the child succeeds in expressing, through symbolic play, what makes him feel anger, fear, anxiety or uncertainty.

The need to express feelings is unique to human beings, regardless of their age. However,  the child does not yet have enough discursive or cognitive tools to understand his own.

A psychological interview with children is not based on direct questions and answers:  play as psychological therapy offers theoretical mechanisms which allow the child  to express himself spontaneously.

Play as psychological therapy in children

As we have seen, playful activities allow the child to express, in a symbolic way, his deepest feelings. This fact allows the therapist to activate treatment strategies for the problem. It thus helps the child to free himself from what hurts him or does not leave him alone.

Gambling as psychological therapy is not simply gambling. The professional must be attentive to the manifestation of certain traits,  by evaluating not only the game itself but also the gestures and attitudes of the child in the process of playing it.

The child therapist must have an active role. He must participate in the game, suggest possible activities and get involved in the proposals of his patients. Depending on the theoretical stream followed, he will choose a certain type of intervention and take notes in one way or another.

In addition,  infant therapy requires rigorous consistency,  as well as a minimum of time during which the child will manage to play openly. In each situation, the therapist will assess, through interviews with the child and with the parents, the estimated frequency and duration of the therapy.

During play as psychological therapy,  it is not so much what type of toy the child chooses that matters, but rather how he plays with it. This is why the professional usually has several possible toys and invites the child to choose the one with which he wants to play.

How gambling influences psychological therapy in treatment

Through play,  the therapist can gather a lot of information about the child’s reality and feelings. In addition, it evaluates elements specific to the context of the game.

Among other things, one  can assess the capacity for abstraction, the use of language, the reactions during the game, the inclusion or exclusion of the therapist or the relationship with the game between one session and the next. These are a few factors which speak, in a lateral way, of the subject’s situation.

Aside from play and therapy, how the activity opens and closes is also important. Some children, for example, need to destroy what they have built during the session.

In any case, not all of these actions have to be linear. The therapist knows that between several sessions, the child has felt different sensations. It takes a lot more than one or two sessions to be able to produce at least one informative report.

Features of play as psychological therapy

The main features of playful exercise as a component of psychological therapy are:

• It promotes good emotional development: the work of developing conflicts, in addition to the therapeutic utility of understanding the game, make this methodology an essential resource.

The playful context can lead to improvements, even in children diagnosed with autism. In these cases, even if they are not openly involved in the game, they can still understand and express their feelings. The dynamics of therapy through games appeals to each child differently.

• The game serves as a bridge between reality and imagination:  through a toy, the child will be able to experience his fears, express them and, finally, overcome them. Various toys or even strategy games for older children are used during these therapies for children.
• Through play as psychological therapy, it is also possible to  promote a better adaptation of the child to his environment.

To conclude,  the child who experiences play as psychological therapy will gradually overcome his fears. He will also have more confidence in himself and in the environment in which he lives.