Therapeutic intervention for children through play: An overview

Abstract

Play is children's innate mode of self-expression and a method through which they explore the world. It has important implication for overall (physical, psychological, and psychosocial) development of any children. Play therapy capitalizes on such therapeutic powers or changing mechanisms within play and considers its strategic use through trained professionals to promote specific therapeutic outcomes within therapeutic contexts. This review article aims to provide a brief description on the use of play as therapeutic agent for change, different processes expressed in play, therapeutic powers within the play, and major approaches to play therapy. An attempt has also been made to list out some of the research studies from the available literature to prove the efficacy of play therapy in different conditions. The article concludes with highlighting the current issues and challenges faced by play therapy practice as a therapeutic medium to be used with children and way forward has been suggested.

Keywords

• children
• play
• therapy