What Is Play Therapy?

Quite often when people hear the term “play therapy” they will have no idea what it actually means. In fact, when I initially spoke to my own mother about studying play therapy she was confused and asked if I was merely playing with children in session. Well, my answer to that question was both yes and no.

Play, as a concept itself, is an important aspect to human happiness and well-being - just as work and love is- and has been referred to as the natural language of children. It can be defined as a voluntary, enjoyable, and internally motivated activity focused on the process rather than the outcome. It is essential for learning and development across all ages and encompasses a wide range of activities. Play is thus not an obligation, is not goal-oriented and is not imposed on you by others. (As an interesting aside, given this conceptualization, one would have to wonder then if structured sports should actually be considered as “play”.)

So what does play combined with therapy look like, especially since therapy is goal-oriented? Well, play therapy actually refers to a large number of treatment methods, which make use of one or more of the benefits of play such as its enjoyable nature and its focus on process rather than outcome. It is a method to advance the goals of the therapy itself. Furthermore, since play is also fun, play therapy makes it easier for children to deal with what’s bothering them.

I like to look at play therapy as a method by which children are able to express and address their issues in a manner that allows them to place psychological and emotional distance between themselves and their issues while their issues are being addressed. In considering this, play therapy is an ideal method to use with those children who are too young to fully benefit from traditional talk-based therapy and for those children who struggle with opening up to others.

So the next time you tell your children to go play, I hope that you’ll have a new appreciation for what you’re expecting them to do as well as having a better understanding of what play is actually supposed to be.

If you'd like support for your child, schedule an appointment with Dr. Sina today.