How Play Therapy Can Help Children With Anxiety
Anxiety is a very common emotion that children experience as they develop which can impact on their overall health and wellbeing. Anxiety in children can be described as a normal way of a child reacting to stressful or new situations and can be expressed by children as fear, worry or shame. Some of the most common types of anxiety children may experience include general anxiety disorders, social anxiety, separation anxiety, phobias as well as anxiety associated with medical procedures in settings such as hospitals and medical clinics.
As a child’s brain is continuing to develop, their self-regulation and self-soothing skills are still developing, and it is normal for them to experience anxiety and fear as part of their development. Child-Centred Play Therapy is considered a developmentally appropriate intervention for young children that can assist children to explore, understand and express their thoughts, feelings and experiences related to anxiety, which can enable them to continue to develop their emotional regulation skills. Child-centred play therapy can also assist children with anxiety to improve their social skills, improve their own understanding of the problems they experience and to develop ways cope more effectively with their challenges.
Child-Centred Play Therapy can also be considered as an appropriate therapy for children with anxiety because children’s verbal language skills are still developing, so play therapy can allow children to express their thoughts and feelings through play, which is considered a more developmentally appropriate way for them to express themselves as their verbal language skills are still developing. As playing is a child’s natural way of communicating, play therapy can also assist them to develop positively in many ways, including developing cognitive, physical, social and emotional skills, as well as assisting with personality development, confidence, self-esteem, self-acceptance, acceptance of others, creative thinking, decision making skills and overall cognitive, physical, social and emotional wellbeing.
Play activities in sessions can help children to process, understand, learn about and manage their thoughts and feelings related to anxiety. Through activities such as role plays, pretend play and though doing creative and expressive activities such as painting, drawing, dressing up in costumes and sand tray activities, children can engage in play actions to assist them to process and express their thoughts, feelings and experiences related to the anxiety that they may experience in situations at home or school.
Play therapy sessions aim to create a predictable play space through including the same toys that are carefully selected and arranged in the same way for the child each time they come to the play room. In addition to this, play therapy appointment times also aim to be scheduled on the same day and time each week for the child to help to make things predictable for them and to help to create a routine, which can help to relieve some of the anxiety a child may experience about attending appointments. The play therapy environment can also provide children with a safe, accepting and non-interruptive space that is free from challenging life events that the child may experience in situations and environments outside the playroom, such as at school or at home. During play therapy sessions, the play therapist also supports a child to express their thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviours in healthy ways through their play actions.
A child having a positive, secure and comfortable relationship with the play therapist who reflects qualities such as acceptance, empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard towards the child can help to guide a child have greater acceptance of their anxiety and fears, allowing them to progress towards having a greater overall acceptance of parts of themselves as well as of their experiences that they dislike. As a child develops improvements in their acceptance of themselves, they can also develop a greater understanding of themselves. Play therapy sessions also aim to provide a child with a safe and positive environment where they are understood and accepted as they are, which can assist them to do more self-exploration and self-expression of their anxiety and fears while playing in the play therapy sessions. As a child develops improvements in their overall self-acceptance and improvements of how they value themselves, this can help to decrease their anxieties and fears, and can assist them to develop an more positive sense of self, allowing them to be more present with reduced amounts of worries and anxieties related to the future.
As Child-Centred Play Therapy is non-directive, this allows a child to have freedom to choose what they want to play with and how they want to play with different toys, allowing them to have an increased sense of control which can assist to reduce their anxiety. Having the freedom to decide what they want to play with and how they want to play can be particularly beneficial for children who experience anxiety who may find it difficult to make decisions in different situations outside the playroom, such as at school or at home. The non-directive nature of child-centred play therapy can also assist children to release their anxiety and negative emotions through their play actions which can assist them to feel more relaxed and calmer. Through the play therapist reflecting acceptance and empathy towards the child during their play therapy sessions, this can assist to reduce a child’s anxiety as it can allow the child to play freely in the playroom without feeling like they are being judged, and also assist a child to develop more positive thoughts and feelings towards themselves, which can assist them to develop a more positive sense of self and help to improve their overall wellbeing.
References
Dion, L (Presenter). (2020, May 28). Supporting children through anxiety and the unknown. [Audio podcast episode]. Lessons from the playroom.
Dion, L (Presenter). (2021, May 11). Separation anxiety in play therapy. [Audio podcast episode]. Lessons from the playroom.
Gholamalizadeh, S., Asghari, F., & Farhangi, A. (2018). The effectiveness of child-centred play therapy on social anxiety and communication skills of preschool children. Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 12(1), 198-203.
Hateli, B. (2022). The effect of non-directive play therapy on reduction of anxiety disorders in young children. Counselling & Psychotherapy Research, 22, 140-146.
Nursanaa, W.O., & Ady, I.N.C. (2020). Play Therapy for children with anxiety disorders. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 395, 81-86.
Stulmaker, H.L., & Ray, D.C. (2015). Child-centred play therapy with young children who are anxious: A controlled trial. Children and Youth Services Review, 57, 127-133.