problem-solving); facilitating emotional functioning (e.g., increasing self- esteem and motivation, decreasing anxiety and depression); bringing unconscious material into awareness; and reframing experience to view things from another perspective.
Magic provides multisensory kinesthetic). These appeal modalities (i.e., visual, auditory, to children who prefer action to talking
and can accommodate children with special needs. In group settings, magic facilitates social interaction, group cohesion, and social skills development.
Magic-based interventions also may be used in combination with established, standardized techniques including testing for assessment of emotional and cognitive symptoms such as anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and learning difficulties (Gilroy, 1998). Observing a child’s reaction to a trick can provide meaningful information. For example, is the child scared, passive, or surprised? Does the child with poor impulse control demand to be told the secret to the trick? Finally, magic tricks may promote engagement in the therapeutic process. Revealing the secret to a trick helps build rapport and trust.
Magicians and Play Therapists: A Comparison Magicians and play therapists are professionals skilled at quickly developing rapport and creating positive change. Based upon neuroscience research, both apply neurological principles to their work. Play therapy has the potential to create new neural pathways, influence mirror neurons and oxytocin, and increase interpersonal trust (Stewart, Field, & Echterling, 2016).
Magicians also take advantage of these neurological processes to
direct others’ attention. However, magicians are entertainers who use magic tricks to narrow or misdirect attention to amuse and mystify their audience. By contrast, play therapists, are committed to authenticity and transparency, and use theory-based therapeutic techniques to increase attention and expand awareness toward a transformative experience.
Magic Tricks Many magic tricks are simple, easy to learn, available on YouTube, and use common, household materials. Before proceeding, play therapists should consider clients’ culture, religion, age, cognitive level, and diagnosis, and use caution in light of contraindications. Magic should not be used in cases of psychosis, paranoia, or allergy to materials (i.e., latex). Due to the level of cognitive development needed to understand their functioning, magic tricks are not recommended for preschool children; and the teaching of tricks that involve reversals are not for children seven years or younger. When indicated, magic can promote learning and development. The decision to use magic as an intervention and the selection of a specific magic trick need to be guided by theoretical orientation which, in turn, guides therapeutic goals. For example, using a magic trick within the context of a non-directive approach to build rapport and trust may bypass the resistance and capture the attention of an impulsive, oppositional child.
CLINICAL EDITOR’S COMMENTS:
When embedded within play therapy theory, magic may provide bases for trust and moving past resistance.
Learning from failure when things go wrong with a trick can promote perseverance and problem-solving skills. Teaching a trick to a child who can later successfully demonstrate it to peers and adults promotes self- confidence and self-esteem. Magic can become a coping technique and a hobby. The following tricks combine magic and metaphor to promote play therapy objectives.
Disappearing Crayons The therapist tells the child that they will make crayons in a crayon box disappear, then reappear. The therapist tells a story that describes the metaphor of feelings as colors. “If feelings were colors, what would yellow be?” The therapist points to the yellow crayon, accepts the child’s response, and continues with more colors. Then, the therapist says, “Let’s pretend all feelings disappeared” and makes the crayons disappear, explaining that “Without feelings, life would be boring and empty, like this empty box.” By turning a crayon box of crayons backwards, then forwards, the crayons disappear, then reappear. The secret is that half of each crayon has been cut off and removed. By gently squeezing the box on the bottom or top, the therapist controls the movement of the crayons from top to bottom, making the crayons disappear, then reappear.
This prop (Youthlight, 2003) can be combined with the Magic Coloring Book of Feelings (
http://www.youthlight.com/connect/magic- counseling/) for added effect. By flipping through the pages with the thumb at different positions on the outside edges, the pages seem to change dramatically from uncolored to colored, then to completely blank, then back to colored. This trick has application for anger management, grief and loss, and adjustment to change.
Magic Cauldron Shapiro (1994) described how “...with a drop of my magic elixir and a pinch of my magic powder... I can turn it into a powerful potion to scare all the evil witches and bad monsters away” (p. 75). He explained how adding baking soda and a drop of blue food coloring to a glass half full of white vinegar makes bubbles and overflows. This trick is a metaphor for “things are not always what they seem” or for a volcano.
www.a4pt.org | March 2020 | PLAYTHERAPY | 21
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