Sand play therapy

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Sand play therapy is a method that enables non-verbal therapeutic approaches in psychotherapy, counseling and curative education and was developed in the 1920s by the British doctor and therapist Margaret Lowenfeld (1890-1973). In German-speaking countries, the method was introduced by a student of Margaret Lowenfeld, the Swiss therapist Dora M. Kalff (1904–1990). Furthermore, Dora M. Kalff has expanded the understanding of the therapeutic effect of sand play by applying the analytical psychology according to Carl Gustav Jung to the built sand pictures. Originally the method was called World Technique , because children in Lowenfeld's Institute of Child Psychology (ICP) had called their sand pictures worlds .

In 1937 Margaret Lowenfeld presented the method at international therapist congresses, including in Paris. There, CG Jung got to know Lowenfeld's therapy method and for the first time applied his depth psychological knowledge to one of the built worlds during the congress.

Basics

Various philosophical and psychological currents can be drawn on to understand the sand pictures that are built by children and adults.

Margaret Lowenfeld herself developed a developmental psychological explanatory model, the so-called protosystem . Her thoughts and scientific studies are inspired by Jean Piaget's developmental psychology, Robin Collingwood's philosophical positions, Donald Winnicott's theory of emotional development, and Margaret Mead's ethnological field studies.

Dora M. Kalff expanded the theoretical basis by applying the analytical psychology according to Carl Gustav Jung to the analysis of the built sand pictures and the symbols they contain, as well as to the accompaniment of the therapeutic sand play process. Furthermore, Kalff's exploration of Tibetan Buddhism flowed into the accompaniment of the sandplayers.

An understanding of the human ability to express oneself through symbols in space and time is crucial for "reading" a sand picture in a therapeutic setting. The philosophical and epistemological basis for this is provided by Ernst Cassirer's work .

description

Sand play therapy is a well-founded method for psychosocial diagnostics and non-verbal psychotherapy for people of all ages. It is widespread worldwide, was originally developed as a form of therapy for children and is now also used in therapeutic work with adults. In addition, play and symbolic forms of design are necessary, whereby other psychotherapeutic techniques and methods or pharmacotherapy can be integrated.

The prerequisite for therapy is the "free and protected space" offered by the therapeutic situation and the therapeutic relationship.

There are two sandboxes available, the dimensions of which are based on the human field of vision (e.g. W: 72 cm × D: 57 cm × H: 7 or 9 cm). One sandpit is provided with dry sand, the other with moist sand. The inside of the boxes is usually kept in a medium blue shade to represent rivers, seas and lakes. In addition to the sand, a collection of miniature figures, animals, plants, buildings, vehicles, natural materials and much more enables the builder to create a sand picture.

Without a thematic specification, abstract or concrete representations can spontaneously arise from the given material in therapy. They are symbolic implementations and representations of sensations, experiences or unconscious conflicts and can contain possible solutions.

The sand game leads into deeper layers of the soul, which are difficult to access for consciousness or language or which cannot otherwise find appropriate expression.

If the therapist accompanies the sandplayer in a way that touches unconscious areas of the psyche and thus opens up opportunities for changes, sandplay therapy shows a beneficial and often healing effect. The sand game is able to set a holistic change process in motion, which can strengthen one's own resources, enable creative redesign and contribute to the healing and development of the overall personality.

Areas of application

Sand play therapy is used as a creative therapeutic method in the accompaniment of people with self-esteem problems, developmental disorders, trauma- related disorders, learning and concentration difficulties and psychosomatic disorders.

  • Construction phase of an example

  • Follow-up picture of this game process

  • Final design of the example

  • Figures and material

Professional associations

literature

  • Rie Roger Mitchell, Harriet S. Friedman: Concepts and Applications of Sand Play . Ernst Reinhardt, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-497-01413-3 .
  • Erika Jungbluth: spatial symbolism. Scheme for "reading pictures". Visualization of psychotherapeutic processes in sand play therapy according to Dora Kalff and Margaret Lowenfeld . Sciencemotion, Münster 2017, ISBN 978-3-943988-04-8 .
  • Alexander von Gontard: Theory and Practice of Sand Play Therapy. A handbook from a child psychiatric and analytical point of view . Kohlhammer, 2006, ISBN 3-17-017823-7 (The author Professor Dr. Alexander von Gontard is director of the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Saarland University Hospital, Homburg, and a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, paediatrics and psychotherapeutics Medicine.).
  • Ruth Ammann: The sand game. The creative way of personal development . Walter-Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-530-42162-6 (revised, expanded edition, foreword by Verena Kast ).

Web links

Commons : Sand Play Therapy  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files
  • F. Castellana, A. Donfrancesco: Sandplay in Jungian analysis: matter and symbolic integration. In: J Anal Psychol. 2005 Jun; 50 (3): 367-382, PMID 15926956
  • VR. Zinni: Differential aspects of sandplay with 10- and 11-year-old children. In: Child Abuse Negl. 1997 Jul; 21 (7): 657-668, PMID 9238549 . 13 clinically conspicuous children and 13 children of the same age in a control group show different results of the sand play pictures in the study, depending on whether the children experience emotional stress or not.
  • A. Gontard, G. Lehmkuhl: Play therapy - psychotherapy with play as the medium: I. General introduction, psychoanalytic and client-centered approaches In: Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 2003 Jan; 52 (1): 35-48, Review, German, PMID 12638367 . Overview of traditional forms of play therapy with a focus on: individual therapy according to A. Adler, analytical psychotherapy according to CG Jung, sand play therapy, patient-centered non-directive play therapy.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Dr Margaret Lowenfeld Trust - Child psychotherapy. Retrieved April 8, 2020 (American English).
  2. ^ Dora M. Kalff: sand game. Its therapeutic effect on the psyche . 4th edition. Reinhardt Ernst, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-497-01399-4 .
  3. ↑ Cathy Urwin: Child Psychotherapy, War and the Normal Child. Selected Papers of Margaret Lowenfeld. Ed .: Cathy Urwin, John Hood-Williams. Dr. Margaret Lowenfeld Trust, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton et al. 2013, p. 41-59 .
  4. ↑ Cathy Urwin: Child Psychotherapy, War and the Normal Child. Selected Papers of Margaret Lowenfeld . Ed .: Cathy Urwin, John Hood-Williams. Dr. Margaret Lowenfeld Trust, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton et al. 2013, p. 98 .
  5. ^ Ruth Bowyer: The Lowenfeld World Technique. Studies in Personality. With a foreword by Dr. Margaret Lowenfeld . Pergamon Press, Oxford et al. 1970, p. 8 .
  6. ↑ Cathy Urwin: Child Psychotherapy, War and the Normal Child. Selected Papers of Margaret Lowenfeld . Ed .: Cathy Urwin, John Hood-Williams. Dr. Lowenfeld Trust, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton et al. 2013, p. 94-99 .
  7. ↑ Cathy Urwin: Child Psychotherapy, War and the Normal Child. Selected Papers of Margaret Lowenfeld . Dr. Margaret Lowenfeld Trust, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton et al. 2013, p. 13.14, 70-78 .
  8. ^ Rie Rogers Mitchell, Harriet S. Friedman: Concepts and Applications of Sand Play . Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, Munich, Basel 1997, p. 85-86 .
  9. ^ Heinrich Schmidinger: "The human being as animal symbolicum. To the emergence of a definition", In: Der Mensch - an »animal symbolicum«? Ed .: Heinrich Schmidinger, Clemens Sedmak. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2007, p. 9-22 .