This qualitative case study research chronicles the process
of change during play therapy of two children who experienced
maternal loss and maltreatment during the first two years of
life. At the outset of this study both children presented with
evidence of insecure attachment as well as symptoms and behaviour
consistent with maltreatment. Over the course of a year of
therapy, both demonstrated profound change and healing.
The study concludes that the children were able to utilize
the safety, consistency, and affirmation of the therapeutic
relationship to discard old models of relating, and to construct
new internal representational models of self and of self in
relation to others. Once old models were discarded, the children
returned to the earliest stage of damage and reworked attachment
salient developmental tasks while in relation with the therapist.
The projective materials of the play therapy space provided
the medium through which the children externalized selected
trauma and critical incidents that shaped their maladaptive
models. As the therapist gave voice to the previously
unacknowledged experiences, the child's authentic self was able
to disentangle from the trauma. The pattern by which the self
emerged and developed over the course of therapy approximated
developmental pathways described by prominent self theorists
(Bretherton & Beeghly, 1982; Mahler et.al, 1975; Stern, 1985).
Change was exhibited in the classroom approximately 10 to 14
weeks after the children were initially seen in therapy. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/7543 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Mills, Barbara C. |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 51353708 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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