CLINICAL EDITOR’S COMMENTS: M
Continuing to elevate play therapy in the world of mental health and beyond requires every play therapist to take responsibility for connecting evidence to practice.
any years ago, I sat in my Child Psychopathology course as a wide-eyed doctoral student ready
to soak in any information that would help me serve children. By the time I took this course, I was already a trained and active play therapist. As we reached the section on ADHD, I was excited to see what I could gain from the textbook chapter because I had seen play therapy be effective with my clients with ADHD; hence I was especially eager to reach the effective interventions part of the chapter. Imagine my disappointment to read a simple sentence, “Play therapy is not effective for children with ADHD.” The sentence was especially disheartening because it came with two citations that were sure to be the research that provided evidence that play of play therapy. Many more such statements were destined my way therapy under supervision. I was a true believer.
This event ended up being a foundational experience for me in growing our play therapy community and the catalyst for all the research I have conducted since that fateful day in 1996. Certain attitudes and practices among play therapists provide the play lessons that I learned to help build our community of knowledgeable, diverse, competent, grounded, and effective play therapists.
Be A Critical Thinker the sentence about play therapy and ADHD, I was curious. The citation references following the sentence must surely have been rigorous research trials that examined the effects of play therapy. I engaged in due diligence and found the original works cited. found that neither citation was a research study. Both references were simply statements made in books by two different authors that cited no research to support their opinions, but clearly stated play a critical reader and thinker about play therapy. Since that time, I have embraced the need for critical curiosity and examination of statements regarding play therapy including both supportive and non-supportive assertions.
Early in my research on play therapy, I concentrated on the critics of play therapy (Ray et al., 2001) by dissecting their generalized statements that dismissed play therapy effectiveness. But I could not completely disregard their points regarding lack of play therapy outcome research based on modern research methods and analyses. The reality in some of their points served as the cornerstone for designing randomized controlled studies that have moved play therapy to be recognized as an evidence-based intervention (https://
www.cebc4cw.org/ and
https://preventionservices.acf.hhs.gov/ ).
More recently, concern has moved within the profession of
play therapy where I often hear or read broad claims about the effectiveness of play therapy models, activities, and techniques with no citations at all or citations to others’ opinions rather than research. These types of claims are as detrimental to the credibility of play therapy as unsupported claims that play therapy is not effective. credible citations of support are ubiquitous in the play therapy world of presentations and publications. Other mental health professionals notice these types of claims and will not hesitate to confront the lack
Trends of unsupported claims of effectiveness within play therapy require the critical thinking skills of every play therapist. For every article or book play therapists read, they should question the research support for claims of effectiveness or ineffectiveness. For every workshop wherein a play therapist presenter states that their model is effective, play therapists should openly ask for the research that supports such a statement. Critical analysis among play therapists is essential for keeping the play therapy community accountable to the greater mental health community and increasing the credibility of play therapy among the general public.
www.a4pt.org | December 2023 | PLAYTHERAPY | 5
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