Re CBT Play Therapy

You ask Isn't all play therapy cognitive-behavioral?. The short answer is no, there are a wide variety of approaches to play therapy and many of them are not cognitive-behavioral at all.

When I was in grad school (back in the dark ages) none of the coursework on play therapy covered a cognitive-behavioral perspective, the approaches used were psychodynamic or non-directive. In fact, many therapists assume that the term play thrapy automatically denotes a psychodynamically based type of intervention.

How is cognitive-behavioral play therapy different from psychodynamic or non-directive play therapy? It uses play as a medium for communicating with children and for implementing cognitive and behavioral interventions. These interventions can include identifying and modifying dysfunctional cognitions, coping self-statements, teaching coping skills, reinforcing adaptive behavior, and extinguishing maladaptive behavior. It often would be used in combination with family therapy and/or teaching parents to use cognitive and behavioral interventions at home.

For anyone who wants to learn more about this topic, I recommend Cognitive-behavioral Play Therapy by Susan Knell (Joseph Aronson, 1993).

If you do cognitive-behavioral therapy with children, please chime in. There has been a good deal of interest in CBT with children but since I do not work with kids myself, there is a limit to what I can contribute.

Replies:

Re:Re CBT Play Therapy, by Jill, 10/25/01 What does CBT Play Therapy look like?, by Jim Pretzer, 10/25/01

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