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Thursday, 2 May 2019

Emotional And Psychological Benefits Of Play Therapy

By Matthew McDonald


Psychotherapy is a treatment used in the mental health needs of adults and children. In most cases, it is a practice acknowledged and accepted by experts in the field. Whereas, play therapy is considered a suitable and effective intervention when dealing with brain development in children.

By providing a safe method for young individuals to express experiences in a safe and self-guided process, therapists can learn a lot about a child. As children often communicate best when playing alone or with others, playtime is now considered an important aspect of childhood. In fact, therapists have now taken this to another step by monitoring children while playing alone or with others to diagnose a number of behavioral issues.

Play can also help children develop master skills when it comes to conquering innate abilities, thus leading to a sense of pride and self-worth. As children are driven to meet the essential need of exploration of an environment, playtime can often assist in this goal as well.

It has also been shown that playing can contribute to the development and advancement of critical thought. Whereas, it also allows children to release strong emotions and sentiments which often leads to a feeling of relief. In fact, children will often play out experiences which would be undesirable in real life.

This type of therapy is actually a valid form of psychotherapeutic counseling which can help people, especially children in preventing and resolving a number of psychosocial challenges. The goal is to help children become more comfortable with social interaction, development, growth, emotional health and overcoming different types of trauma.

The therapy can also be used as a tool for diagnosing a variety of conditions during childhood. In doing so, a therapist will observe a child playing with different types of toys to determine any disturbing or unusual behavior. In most cases, this play along with how the child interacts with the therapist can be used to determine if there are any behavioral issues present inside or outside therapy sessions.

According to several psychodynamic sources, children will often engage in play in order to work with emotional blocks and anxieties. According to this viewpoint, this type of therapy can also be used by children as a self-help mechanism as long as children are allowed to play freely and without structure. Although, there are times during sessions in which non-directed playtimes may very well become directed in order for the therapist to take control of a situation.

If a child shows distress, most therapists will use a type of relearning or desensitization therapy to change the behavior which caused the issue. Most often, those using this approach are hopeful that the process will lead to lasting change. Although, there are times when this approach can also backfire and therapists must seek out other methods to eliminate negative behavior.

Ultimately, playing has been recognized as a therapeutic tool since the time of Plato from 429 to 347 B. C., so basically since the beginning of time. For, Plato observed that individuals can learn more about a person in an hour of playtime than in a year of conversation. While this is the case, current therapies of this nature only became popular in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, though the popularity will most likely continue to carry forward well into the future.




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