Sandplay Systems with children: A theoretical and clinical-experimental study

This study describes the scope, development, and implementation of the eclectic treatment modality, Sandplay Systems. The major components are Sandplay Process Therapy (with particular emphasis on the symbolic constellation of the Self), Winnicott's dyadic drawing game called Squiggles, parental "limited-partnership" involvement, and a theo-therapeutic facilitating environment. The environment created welcomes a child into a safe and protected place to be, providing a milieu for the child-client's ego-self/personality to become rebalanced, integrated, and for an essentially healthy attitudinal-behavioral pattern to emerge.; Within the matrix of this milieu, a child's inherent inner healing and recovery systems are activated and nurtured to allow the child to resolve his or her presenting psycho-social conflicts or developmental blockages. This resolution is accomplished via the child-therapist interactions, verbally via discussion of psycho-social-familial conflicts and dreams, and non-verbally through the symbolic message communication pathways of Sandplay and/or Squiggles.; The Sandplay Systems process unfolds as follows: (1) Therapist/Parent(s) interview. A detailed psycho-social trigenerational family history is taken and a treatment plan developed. (2) Child-client enters treatment. (3) Child develops trust in the therapist, in the therapeutic process, and builds ego-strength, self-integrity, and self-trust. (4) Child develops confidence in his or her own abilities and learns how to cope congruently with his or her world. He or she begins to develop a capacity for making appropriate choices.; Future research extending this current study could address the following questions: (1) based on my theory of GodSelf "How can Sandplay Systems maximize a child's spiritual health?" (2) "What is the psychological, biological, and metaphysical impact upon a child of previous family generations and previous lifetimes?"; As a result of this study, I have begun experimental work to adapt "Voice Dialogue" (Hal Stone Ph.D. & Sidra Winkleman Ph.D.) for children where a child can "give voice to" different parts or selves of his or her personality thru the art form of Squiggles. Further study is indicated of this new and potentially powerful communication method.