Play Therapy
Annotation by the Child Guidance Council
That children ought to be allowed and encouraged to play is a truism which has been accepted by society as long as the human story has been recorded and was probably admitted long before this. Play is not only the recreation of the young, but it helps to prepare and train them for their tasks in after life.
No doubt it has long been recognized that by means of play the child works off his surplus energy, releases the exuberance of his spirits and expresses his personality in relation to his society.
Play is therefore very important for the welfare of every child, and it is very necessary to impress on Local Authorities the necessity of supplying ample playing fields for all children and, when children are accommodated in hostels, homes, nurseries, etc., that play material should be supplied, suitable for children of different age-groups.
Also a member of the staff of such institutions should have sufficient leisure to guide and superintend the children’s play and be generally responsible for the play material. Such a person’s services are vital for the welfare of the children in the institution but he cannot claim the title of play-room supervisor, as this involves special training as set out below.
It is only recently, however, that it has been recognized that the child habitually ” plays out ” his emotional problems and that by the skilled and intelligent observa- tion of play much can be learnt as to the nature of these emotional problems which the child is far too young to express in words.
The very fact of ” playing out ” these problems is good for the child, and it may well be that the reason why the emotional strains and stresses of early childhood do so little harm to the future development of the normal child is that the tension engendered by them is released by playing them out.
In the case of less normal children or of those who have been subjected to exceptionally severe stresses and strains, the mere playing out may not be enough. Theoretically by analogy with adults, such children require psychotherapy, but the trouble has been that the very “young child could not express himself in words and so approach was extremely difficult. With the development of play therapy, however, a new avenue of communication between physician and child has been opened up.
Play therapy in its widest sense may be said to include:? 1. The undirected and more or less uncontrolled play of children, during which they ” play out ” their emotional problem.
2. The supervised and directed play of children who are encouraged to play both individually and in groups with media and toys most likely to allow them to express their emotional stresses.
Such play may be recorded and reported on so that the therapist may correlate such reports with other data relating to the child and thus arrive at a diagnosis and formulate treatment, which may indeed take the form of further directed play.
3. The therapist may not only record and report on the play but interpret it in accordance with criteria which have been established as to the general meaning of play activities of various sorts.
It is clear that interpretation of play is much more open to criticism than mere observation and recording of play, since it may be felt that criteria of general applica- tion cannot at all, or cannot yet, be established and that in any case they may be misleading since the personalities of the child and of the therapist may not be sufficiently taken into account.
In this connection, just as the importance of the diagnosis and treatment of the problem child has long been recognized, so there has been considerable controversy as to the qualifications of the person who shall diagnose and treat the child by psychotherapy of any kind. Some psychiatrists consider that they alone shall fulfil the role and should employ play therapy as part of their technique. Others may be prepared to admit non-medical personnel to their staffs to fulfil this function. The Representative Body of the British Medical Association in 1939, after having con- sidered that section of the Report of the B.M.A. Mental Health Committee, refused to give recognition to non-medical psycho-therapists, including play therapists in the non-medical category mentioned above, i.e. those who professed to interpret children’s play as opposed to those who only undertake to observe and report.
To avoid misconception it should be pointed out that although psycho-analysts did not offer any training in play therapy as such, they were largely responsible for the idea that occupation therapy can usefully be applied to children. In the psycho- analysis of children, which is taught at the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, the candidates learn to make use of the play of children which takes the place of the adults’ verbalization.
Before this decision was reached the Child Guidance Council had at the request of the Tavistock Clinic set up a Play Therapy Committee to draft a syllabus for the training of play therapists, and another for the training of play-room supervisors who would organize play, observe it, and report. In view of the attitude of the British Medical Association, the preparations for training play therapists were abandoned, since it was anticipated that most of the applicants for the Course would not be medically qualified, and only the second part of the scheme was proceeded with. Several clinics had expressed their wish to train play-room supervisors on the lines indicated in the scheme, but unfortunately war put an end to these plans. The status of play therapists at the moment so far as the Child Guidance Council is concerned is non-existent. No ” recognized ” training exists. Other bodies, however, have recognized a qualification of psychotherapist. Thus the Institute of Psycho-Analysis and the Institute of Child Psychology train psychotherapists who use play technique, in accordance with the particulars appended. It is generally considered essential that the training for lay psychotherapy, if it were recognized at all, should be strenuous, and it was also proposed that qualified therapists should work only in conjunction with a doctor. All play-room supervisors are required to work in this way.
As in every profession, there are of course people who have qualified by experience before the introduction of a recognized system of training, and these are continuing their pioneer work. Until play therapy is accepted as an auxiliary medical service, the position of these workers will be precarious. In any case, the title of play therapist should be defined and retained for those with or without medical qualifica- tion who have high academic qualifications and have undergone a strenuous training. Play therapy is in fact a specialized form of psychotherapy and play therapists are really specially qualified psychotherapists. Unqualified persons would probably hesitate to call themselves psychotherapists, still less should they describe themselves as play therapists.
Even play-room supervisors who can be regarded as competent to organize, observe and report on children’s play for therapeutic purposes must be highly qualified persons and those who simply look after children playing are not entitled to this title, much less to that of play therapist.
Note re Schemes for Training
A. Child Guidance Council?Play-room Supervisors (approved but not in operation) Preliminary Qualifications
An honours degree in Psychology or such other qualification as the Selection Committee shall accept, with other subjects such as general biology, physiology, hygiene of childhood, psychopathology and child training. Training: One year course whole-time, consisting of:? 1. Lectures, demonstrations, seminars and discussion?the latter to occupy at least four hours a week.
2. Practical work. In a general play-room both of individual play and group play.
Students will receive experience of visiting the homes of children with whom they are in contact, and should have not less than four weeks’ residential experience with children, both domestic and institutional, during the latter part of their course. Experience in interviewing parents of children gained in the out-patient department of a hospital or otherwise and experience in an in-patient department are also desirable.
The Institute of Child Psychology
One year General Course intended to give experience in the theoretical under- standing and practical handling of difficult, delicate and problem children. This course does not train for practical psychotherapy. (In abeyance at present.)
Institute of Psycho-Analysis
The curriculum of the Institute of Psycho-Analysis aims at a training in full psycho-analysis, and this takes four years.
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