Sand Tray Therapy
Sand Tray Therapy is especially effective with children, who do not have the verbal development of an adult. (It also works for adults, however.)
It consists of "building a world" in a sand tray using figures and toys. This form of therapy is one of a number of projective therapies such as art therapy that helps people project their feelings into a medium without words.
This form of therapy, according to the medical model people, doesn't work on problems like ADHD and Aspergers Disorder. However, clients with both these conditions have reported much improvement using this modality.
We have also seen it work with implicit memory. This kind of memory is not recallable, but still affects us. Children who have been abused as infants, for example, have processed those early memories through Sand Tray therapy.
Sand Tray can be helpful any time a person is struggling with anxiety, trauma, grief, or any overpowering emotions.
We saw Mark, a fifth grader with sad eyes. He had threatened suicide at school. His threat was not serious -- mostly intended to draw attention to his sadness. It worked! His parents brought him to my office for help.
Each week he would build the same world in the tray, a terrible war where one side was always overwhelmingly strong and easily defeated the weaker opponent.
I would reflect that disproportion and the hopelessness the weaker side must feel. He would look at me with a question mark on is face, "Are you for real? Do you really understand how I feel?"
As the weeks passed the sides became more even and the weapons less fearsome.
Eventually he quit playing war and started building domestic scenes.
His parents and teacher reported a distinct upward turn in his mood.
I never did know what was troubling Mark. But given the chance, he worked it out for himself.
You can learn more about Sand Tray Therapy at this link.
