Play therapy may have a natural connection to children, but what about using it with adults? Some might find the integration of play into therapy odd, yet research tells us play is powerfully therapeutic and this power is not reserved solely for children.
What does play therapy encompass?
Play in and of itself is not defined by a goal. It can encompass so many different things and facets–it can be spontaneous, creative, engage our imagination, be sensory or active. For instance, as adults play may look like taking on a woodworking project, sewing, hiking, baking a sweet treat, playing pick-up basketball with friends.
Play takes many forms, and this is also true in how it shows up in a counseling room.
Why would play therapy be useful?
While play might sound simplistic in nature, there is much thought that goes into incorporating play therapy into counseling sessions.
There’s something about play that can reach parts of our story that talk therapy cannot–something within the experience which brings freedom and healing to parts of ourselves that we, perhaps, didn’t even realize were trapped.
Play allows us access to our earliest experiences and younger parts of ourselves, often where initial woundings take place. It can help us access experiences from pre-verbal times in our lives.
Research indicates that the right hemisphere of our brain is most dominant during the first 3 years of life. This part of our brain houses information such as visual images, emotions and sensory information. Information and data the younger versions of ourselves collected and used to build a framework for relationship resides here.
Modalities such as sand tray therapy allow for our right and left brains to both be engaged in that our right brain is connecting to images, emotions and sensory data whereas our left brain is allowing us to have language to use to describe and share what those experiences were or are.
Just as play can help us access underdeveloped or younger parts of ourselves, play can also help us regulate ourselves when we feel overwhelmed. It impacts us mentally, emotionally and physically, reducing our stress and blood pressure.
What does play therapy accomplish?
Part of what makes play therapeutic is its experiential nature.
Hands on activities—such as using clay or bucket drums—allow for in the moment engagement of the emotions and beliefs that surface, providing an opportunity for us to attend to our emotional needs as they come up. These experiences allow us to practice skills in real time.
It’s one thing to talk about anxiety and control and another to see “letting go” and a lack of control play out in an activity such as paint pouring. In this instance, the spontaneous elements of creative play challenge us to lean into areas that so desire control, have a plan or be right.
Play is not impressed by any of these things, rather asking us to simply show up as ourselves. This very invitation brings with it a healing and freedom to clients of all ages.