is elevated through accountability among ourselves and credibility highlights the importance of research through their ends policies and on their website at asp?page=Research
https://www.a4pt.org/general/custom.
Don’t Repeat What Has No Evidence Because play therapy is a smaller community within mental health, oral traditions are strong and passed down as truths when evidence may be lacking. I recently heard a play therapist over social media state that child-centered play therapy should only be used when therapists can provide lengthy treatment to a child. This is an antiquated and oft-repeated statement that has been addressed in more recent research publications where authors update the typical length for effectiveness (it is 8-12 sessions if you are interested to know; Pester et al., 2019; Ray et al., 2015). This is only one example of how statements with little evidence are repeated over and over, then accepted as realities, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. An important lesson for play therapists is to repeat statements for which there is clear evidence and do not repeat statements for which there is no clear evidence. This suggestion circles back to believing is not enough. There are certain sacred beliefs held by play therapists passed down from therapist to therapist that simply do not have evidence to support them. I will not provide examples of engages in critical thinkin knowing the research, and repeating assertions that evidence supports, statements that risk the credibility of play therapy will and popularity, thus the ability to critically and supportively hold
ourselves accountable is fundamental to continuing to credibly grow our community.
References Barkham, M., Lutz, W., & Castonguay, L. (Eds.). (2021). Bergin and Wiley.
Landreth, G. (2023). (4th ed.). Routledge.
Martin, F. (2020). Oxford. Pester, D., Lenz, A. S., & Dell’Aquila, J. (2019). Meta-analysis of single-case evaluations of child-centered play therapy for treating mental health symptoms. (3), 144–156.
Ray, D., Armstrong, S., Balkin, R., & Jayne, K. (2015). Child centered play therapy in the schools: Review and meta-analysis. , 107-123.
Ray, D., Bratton, S., Rhine, T., & Jones, L. (2001). The effectiveness of play therapy: Responding to the critics. , 85-108.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dee C. Ray, PhD, LPC-S, NCC, RPT-S is Regents Professor, Elaine Millikan Mathes Professor in Early Childhood Education, and Co-Director of the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas. Dr. Ray is past APT Board Chair and has published over 150 articles, chapters,
Dee.Ray@unt.edu
www.a4pt.org | December 2023 | PLAYTHERAPY | 7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
