The Use of Child-Centered Play Therapy for Children Who Have Experienced Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has long been recognized as a complex and global threat to young children. When it comes to mental health, CSA can leave victims with long-term problems that persist into adolescence and adulthood, like anxiety and depression. Child-centered Play Therapy (CCPT) is an evidence-based approach to mental health treatment with children. CCPT is based on the belief that play is a child's natural language and so the therapist is required to make inferences about themes through observations of the play therapy sessions. This qualitative study utilised a qualitative method to acquire a greater understanding and information regarding the themes of play therapy in the treatment of child sexual abuse victims. This case study employed observation and was supported by play therapy session reports as the main data collection method. In total, there were five children aged between 6 to 9 years old involved in this study. There are several play themes identified, such as mistrust, autonomy/ independence, shame/doubt, industry and initiative. The identification of play themes allows therapists to evaluate therapeutic outcomes and ultimately understand the how and why of the effectiveness of play therapy. Identifying play themes is key to understand the meaning of the child's play in each session and allows therapists to systematically track therapeutic change.