Play Therapy

Play therapy is beneficial to a child who is experiencing difficulties in the home, school or community. It is a therapeutic approach for human service professionals as stated by Virginia Axline, "provides an opportunity for the child to 'play out' his or her feelings and problems just as, in certain adult therapy, an individual 'talks out' his or her difficulties". A child's self-understanding is one of the goals in this approach.

Play therapy has a base from the therapies listed below.

PSYCHOANALYTIC PLAY THERAPY
Anna Freud (1928); Melanie Klien (1932)

RELEASE PLAY THERAPIES and STRUCTURED PLAY THERAPIES
Levy (1938); Solman (1938); Hambridge (1955)

RELATIONSHIP/CLIENT CENTERED THERAPIES
Otto Rank (1936); Jessie Taft (1933); Frederick Allen (1942);Clark Moustakas (1959); Carl Rogers; Bixler (1949);Virginia Axline (1947); Landreth (1991)

BEHAVIOUR PLAY THERAPY
O'Connor (1991)

GESTALT
Violet Oaklander (1969)

JUNGIAN
Allan (1988); Kalf (1980); Weinrib (1983)

FILIAL THERAPY
Guerney (1964); Landreth (1991)

THERAPLAY
Jernberg (1979)