Play Therapy with Children in Crisis: Individual, Group, and Family Treatment

by Nancy Boyd Webb (Editor)

This popular casebook and text focuses on the treatment of children who have experienced such stressful situations as parental death or divorce, abuse and neglect, HIV/AIDS in the family, community violence, tragic accidents, and war. Play therapy methods presented include art, storytelling, doll-play, group art activities, and games. Each in-depth case study is accompanied by an up-to-date literature review, a case summary, an assessment and treatment plan, and discussion questions. The second edition also features follow-up reports of six teenagers originally seen in therapy as children.

Genres: Psychology, Childrens, Counselling, Nonfiction, Social Work, Family

506 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 1991

About the author

RPT-S, DSW BCD LICSW

Reviews

[Genna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A psychiatrist friend let me go through a bunch of books she was getting rid of and, since I babysit a lot, I'm always sort of tangentially interested in books about children's mental health. I didn't really find this one to be particularly useful. More than half of the case studies end with the children not actually much better than when they started. Most of the case studies were sort of emergency triage therapy where the therapist would see the kid maybe five or eleven times, which hardly seems sufficient to create any sort of trust, let alone to fix any deep underlying issues, so can we be surprised when the bandaid starts to peel off?

It's also very Freudian, so you get the feeling that the psychiatrists seem focused more on prodding at wounds than on curing them (and I get that this is the Freudian approach: to bring secrets to light so that they can be faced head-on, but it just doesn't seem to be helping these kids). The other thing was the deep mining of play for metaphor. "This kid likes super heroes and dinosaurs because, obviously, he wants to be invulnerable," and, sure, maybe that's part of it, but some kids just like super heroes. MOST kids like super heroes.

I don't know... most of it was just, well, here's a kid who had a terrible thing happen and a shrink comes along and works with the kid over ten sessions and, checking back in eight years later, the kid is failing school and in trouble with the law and dealing with rage issues, and I can't help but wonder, THEN WHY ARE YOU SHOWING ME THESE TECHNIQUES? Maybe we should try some other approaches?

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in helping a child cope with a stressful life situation. It's perfect for clinicians and parents alike. Very easy read and the author is renowned for her research and clinical work in child trauma.

[shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

have i mentioned i am a nerd who reads text books for fun? i am a nerd who reads text books for fun.

[Mills College Library]

618.9289 P722 2007