Post by Admin on Jul 29, 2023 11:06:52 GMT
Sand-tray therapy can reach feelings at the ‘edge of awareness’
psyche.co/ideas/sand-tray-therapy-can-reach-feelings-at-the-edge-of-awareness
Originally developed for use in child therapy, sand trays are now helping adults with their difficult thoughts and emotions
Adjectives such as evocative, sensuous and tactile are often used to describe sand. This powerful medium used in sand-tray therapy, combined with symbolic objects, can provide a transformative experience for a client. The objects placed in the sand serve as physical metaphors symbolising the client’s intrapsychic experience (their inner world), their inter-relational experience, and sometimes their cultural, spiritual and religious experiences.
The sand tray itself acts as a natural container, with the therapist sitting alongside and helping the client engage with the process; it is as if they can take one step out of their pain without losing connection to thought and feeling. It helps the client explore an issue without becoming overwhelmed. In this sense, they become the ‘observer-experiencer’.
The emergence of sand-tray therapy is often associated with the British paediatrician and child therapist Margaret Lowenfeld in the early 20th century. She is acknowledged as the first therapist to adopt a sand tray in her work with children. In 1937, she presented what she called her ‘world technique’ at a conference in Paris, suggesting it could help children in therapy if they were struggling to put their experiences into words. Today, sand-tray therapy is used not only with children but with adults too. My own experience as a psychotherapist is that sand-tray therapy can be a powerful and effective way of working with a wide range of adult clients.
Much of the formal literature on sand-tray therapy with adults is dominated by Jungian ‘sandplay’, which excludes therapists who are not Jungian-trained. My own therapeutic approach is pluralistic – which is based on humanistic principles but draws on methods and skills from different therapeutic approaches, and I’m keen to raise awareness and access to sand-tray therapy for more people, including therapists and their clients.
The pluralistic therapeutic approach, founded by Mick Cooper and John McLeod, fits well with sand-tray therapy. It is a creative, flexible, collaborative approach that values assessment and feedback. In this context, the sand-tray can help guide both client and therapist in how they work together to meet the client’s goals and expectations for therapy.
psyche.co/ideas/sand-tray-therapy-can-reach-feelings-at-the-edge-of-awareness
Originally developed for use in child therapy, sand trays are now helping adults with their difficult thoughts and emotions
Adjectives such as evocative, sensuous and tactile are often used to describe sand. This powerful medium used in sand-tray therapy, combined with symbolic objects, can provide a transformative experience for a client. The objects placed in the sand serve as physical metaphors symbolising the client’s intrapsychic experience (their inner world), their inter-relational experience, and sometimes their cultural, spiritual and religious experiences.
The sand tray itself acts as a natural container, with the therapist sitting alongside and helping the client engage with the process; it is as if they can take one step out of their pain without losing connection to thought and feeling. It helps the client explore an issue without becoming overwhelmed. In this sense, they become the ‘observer-experiencer’.
The emergence of sand-tray therapy is often associated with the British paediatrician and child therapist Margaret Lowenfeld in the early 20th century. She is acknowledged as the first therapist to adopt a sand tray in her work with children. In 1937, she presented what she called her ‘world technique’ at a conference in Paris, suggesting it could help children in therapy if they were struggling to put their experiences into words. Today, sand-tray therapy is used not only with children but with adults too. My own experience as a psychotherapist is that sand-tray therapy can be a powerful and effective way of working with a wide range of adult clients.
Much of the formal literature on sand-tray therapy with adults is dominated by Jungian ‘sandplay’, which excludes therapists who are not Jungian-trained. My own therapeutic approach is pluralistic – which is based on humanistic principles but draws on methods and skills from different therapeutic approaches, and I’m keen to raise awareness and access to sand-tray therapy for more people, including therapists and their clients.
The pluralistic therapeutic approach, founded by Mick Cooper and John McLeod, fits well with sand-tray therapy. It is a creative, flexible, collaborative approach that values assessment and feedback. In this context, the sand-tray can help guide both client and therapist in how they work together to meet the client’s goals and expectations for therapy.