ADLERIAN Play Therapy | TERRY KOTTMAN, PHD, LPC-S, RPT-S & JEFF ASHBY, PHD, ABPP, RPT-S
whole. AdPT combines the underlying concepts of Alfred Adler’s theory of individual psychology (Adler, 1931/1958; Carlson & Englar-Carlson, 2017) with the principles and practices of play therapy and allows play therapists to develop their own style in the playroom. In AdPT, the therapist conceptualizes clients from an Adlerian perspective while strategically and systematically drawing from a plethora of directive and nondirective skills and techniques to facilitate and encourage clients to change their cognitive, affective, behavioral, and relationship patterns (Kottman & Meany-Walen, 2016, 2018). This panoply of techniquess allows therapists to develop their own unique style in a theoretically consistent way to meet the needs of a diverse range of clients.
D
Basic Tenets Fundamental assumptions underlying AdPT include: (a) people are socially embedded and have a need to belong; (b) children develop feelings of inferiority and strive to overcome these inferiority feelings their whole lives; (c) people are creative and self-determining; (d) all behavior has a purpose; and (e) reality is perceived subjectively (Kottman & Ashby, 2015). Adlerians believe that people are best understood in their social context. clients’ social interest and devises ways to support the development of community feeling and social skills in play therapy sessions and through consultation with parents and teachers.
According to Adler, one of the basic motivations for behavior is overcoming feelings of inferiority (Adler, 1958). Young children perceive they are “less than” others because they are not as competent as older, more well- developed people in their world. Adlerian play therapists work with clients to help them develop positive ways to strive toward being and feeling adequate.
12 | PLAYTHERAPY September 2019 |
www.a4pt.org
eveloped by Terry Kottman in the early 1990s, Adlerian play therapy (AdPT) allows children to engage in a therapeutic process that values them as creative, resourceful, and
Adlerians believe that people are self-determining and creative and have the freedom to make choices about their feelings, behavior, aspects of their personality, and attitudes (Carlson & Englar-Carlson, 2017). Therefore, one therapeutic goal is helping clients recognize that they have choices in how they perceive and react to situations and relationships. According to Adlerian therapy, all behavior is purposive. Due to Adlerian theory’s through their subjective interpretation of events, Adlerian play therapists strive to understand clients’ “take” on what has happened in their lives.
Psychopathology and Client Dysfunction Although Adlerians believe that the etiology of some psychopathology is biological in nature, Adlerians tend to view client maladjustment as discouragement (Corey, 2017). Discouraged clients are “acting as if” their self-defeating mistaken beliefs about themselves, others, and the world are true. Clients are stuck in their feelings of inferiority, either giving up and wallowing in discouragement or overcompensating by displaying a “lesser degree of social feeling and ability to cooperate” (Adler, 1958, p. 23).
Treatment Description When play therapists ask us, “What do I do when…?”, the answer is almost always, “It depends,” because there is not a universal answer. Progress unfolds through the four phases of Adlerian therapy, and Adlerian play therapists combine non-directive skills with directive strategies according relationship, Adlerians are mostly non-directive, though they may sometimes use directive techniques to deepen the connection with clients.
In the second phase, exploring the clients’ lifestyles, Adlerians observe clients’ behavior and discover clients’ intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics using questioning strategies and strategically planned activities. In thinking about clients’ lifestyles, Adlerians consider: clients’ strengths; functioning at life tasks (e.g., work, love/family, friendship); family constellation (i.e., psychological birth order); goals of misbehavior
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 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
