Content area
Full Text
Students and trainees often have questions regarding the contemporary approaches to play therapy, and many of these questions revolve around the similarities and differences between the various play therapy models. This article provides readers with a brief tabular overview of the following major approaches to play therapy: Adlerian, Child-centered, Cognitive-behavioral, Developmental, Existential, Ecosystemic, Gestalt, Jungian, and Psychoanalytic.
Play therapy developed as a tool for working with children when mental health professionals recognized that adult "talk therapy" was not practical for use with children. Anna Freud originally used play therapy as a way to apply the techniques of psychoanalysis in working with children. Many subsequent approaches to play therapy evolved from practitioners using techniques with children that were conceptually based in existing models of adult personality theory (e.g. Childcentered, Jungian, Adlerian). In addition, several recent play therapy approaches (e.g., Developmental Play Therapy, Ecosystemic) focus more on the developmental level of children and systems in which children are involved (James, 1997; Landreth, 1991).
In play therapy education settings, students and trainees often have questions regarding the various schools of thought in play therapy. Many of these questions revolve around similarities among and differences between play therapy models, and often occur as play therapists-in-training struggle to find a model congruent with their existing theoretical frameworks. The literature addressing the different models of play therapy is extensive. Thus, the search for answers to questions related to play therapy approaches may prove to be tedious and time consuming. The purpose of this article, then, is to provide a brief overview of many of the contemporary approaches to play therapy. The approaches presented in Table I are Adlerian, Child-centered, Cognitive-behavioral, Developmental, Existential, Eco-systemic, Gestalt, Jungian, and Psychoanalytic. The information presented in Table 1 is not an exhaustive explanation of the different approaches but a brief description of the fundamental tenets of each. The reader will find recommended resources for further study in Appendix A.
Table 1 is organized as follows:
Theoretical Foundation lists the theory or theories that provide the framework for understanding and development of the model.
Major Players provides the names of individuals who developed or have had a significant impact in the development of the model in relation to play therapy.
View of Child (Basic Philosophy)...