Therapeutic play and child development
Play fosters creativity, concentration, and innovation in children. Theatre is a communal game. Many elements present in theatre are shared with elements found in games, which is perhaps why in English, the same word is used for both theatre and play activities.
Theatre is essentially a form of play, with the main distinction being the restrictions and formalities of theatre compared to play. Play offers children a greater sense of freedom of action, allowing them to easily let their imagination guide their movements. This is why dramatic play, as the best form of child representation, holds greater significance in the growth, education, and nurturing of children compared to performances that are strictly based on scripts and presented to an audience. Play is therapeutic. Through play, individuals can dispel anxiety and release suppressed psychological forces that may have formed as complexes.
Through play, one can at least address their needs in their imagination, establish roles, create symbols, and live their life based on the patterns and symbols they create, ultimately achieving a sense of balance. Besides the ability to express thoughts and feelings verbally or through movement, which are outcomes of play, play also holds importance in therapy. Issues children face in social relationships are often due to a lack of understanding others and a lack of skills in resolving social problems. Finding different solutions in social situations, understanding the consequences of others’ actions, and grasping the cause-and-effect relationships between actions and their consequences all contribute to children’s mental well-being.
As Margaret Lowenfeld states, play is a tool for children to connect with their environment, an essential role mirrored in adult life. Play serves as a bridge between a child’s self-awareness and their emotional experiences, akin to the conversations, introspection, philosophy, and religion that adults engage in. Play illustrates the external aspect of a child’s emotional life, much like how art functions for adults.
Based on the above definitions, we can conclude that what we refer to as play for children is a fundamental and lifelong psychological need in all stages of life, only manifested in different forms and names. What helps individuals escape pressures, emotional crises, and suppressed emotions is the same thing that takes on different titles such as work, thought, art, etc., in various ages and circumstances. These titles are presented in the definition of the concept of play. Some consider play merely as a means of entertaining children, whereas this activity is the most serious and crucial one for a child that is evaluable. When a young child cannot express their thoughts and beliefs through various means like speech and conversation, they manifest themselves through play. Therefore, if this activity is carefully examined in children, it can be highly beneficial in addressing their problems, abnormalities, education, and intellectual growth, as children experiment, experience, learn, and draw conclusions through play. Play fosters creativity, concentration, and innovation in children and helps them discover the relationship between objects and their surroundings. As the purpose of this text is to examine the impact of drama therapy on treatment and education, we delve into exploring the best type of therapeutic plays, which are dramatic plays; children not only enjoy imitating adults but also like to dress up like them or engage in conversations. Boys at home mimic reading newspapers like their fathers, and girls wear their mother’s shoes. Additionally, at school, children prefer acting out stories more than reading or listening to them. The most important game where children’s emotions, needs, and feelings can emerge is dramatic play. In dramatic play, children come out of themselves and become aware of their surroundings.
Children’s imaginative play helps to reveal their personalities and is crucial from a therapeutic play perspective. Aggressive children find peace by engaging in dramatic play, as they express all their anger and aggression through the roles they play, such as sword fighting or acting out the role of a tough father. Important aspects of dramatic play that play a significant role in this process include imagination, freedom, belief, pretending, and ultimately, therapy. Children under three engage in imaginative play in various ways, like using objects in creative ways and creating imaginary situations, such as talking to a doll or engaging in make-believe conversations, using imaginary names, and performing imaginative actions like imagining food in an empty dish or sitting on a chair pretending it’s a car. The inclusion of “play” and dramatic play enhances a child’s ability to escape from reality and the constraints imposed by it, granting them a sense of freedom to overcome situations and behaviors that may cause distress in real life, allowing them to fulfill their desires. In their play, children construct what they desire and eliminate what they don’t want, distancing themselves from reality, experiencing moments of freedom and happiness only while immersed in play. Therefore, children’s play sometimes lasts for hours, as they are reluctant to end it.
Belief is another significant feature of dramatic play. A child believes in the situation during dramatic play, believes in themselves, and believes in the non-existent object that their most equipped and beautiful desired item has been brought to life from. They expect others to believe in them too. It is for this reason that sometimes in actor training, the aim is to bring the actor back to their childhood. A time when a piece of wood could be anything that imagination desires. Here, the child doesn’t say, “If this piece of wood is a train, I will ride it.” They are certain and say, “This piece of wood is a train.” Therefore, children immerse themselves deeply in play and roles. Based on this belief, children spend hours without exhaustion, taking on roles like mother, father, teacher, police officer, and more. Pretend play is a critical aspect of children’s play and accepting roles by them. They pretend they are somewhere else, in another city, or even another country. They pretend that an incident has occurred. They pretend to be someone else. Symbolically, children bring some aspects of their daily life into a tangible form through imagination. For example, dolls, toys, toy cars, etc., come to life, creating a connection between their daily life and their imaginations, where reality and imagination coexist.
In the final stage, we reach the treatment phase. Play is a part of the therapeutic process, a form of psychotherapy beneficial in treating children, where participants take on roles and act them out in the presence of the therapist. Though psychoanalytic tradition views play as a tool to achieve the goal of verbal analysis, other traditions rooted in the art of therapeutic play see play both as a means and as an end in therapy. Just as a child needs proper nutrition, security, and a sense of intimacy for growth, they also require play.
Through play, children are provided an opportunity to correct their improper physical skills. Children sometimes place themselves in the role of their own therapist, fulfilling their needs and gaps through role-playing. For instance, a lonely child might create an imaginary figure who cares for them, or a child without someone may engage in personal activities. In their imagination, they may sculpt someone who takes care of them, meeting their needs and sometimes even following their instructions, though there is a risk of excessive fantasy that the therapist needs to control.
In forming therapeutic play groups, the question arises as to which children require group play. The formation of groups in therapeutic play is crucial, with various beliefs expressed in this regard. Generally, group play therapy is suitable for children with social problems and nonconformities, while individual play therapy is appropriate for children with emotional issues. Nowadays, play therapy has advanced to be used as an effective and useful factor in mental health. Through play, children with behavioral issues, emotional disorders, family problems, etc., can be treated, reducing suppressed behaviors and desires.
Author: Sharareh Golmohammadi
