Identity is formed through the narration of experience, and children who experience difficult life events may need help in forming and expressing their own narratives. Play therapy can be a very appropriate way of facilitating this kind of expression. This book describes the work of nine play therapists through the narratives of children - and some adults - whose stories emerge during their play therapy sessions. These stories are not direct accounts of real happenings but are imaginative, metaphorical, complex and multi-layered. The life events they relate to include fostering, long-term...

For therapists working with children one of the main obstacles to effective treatment is the difficulty of finding an appropriate means of communication; both in terms of the child's expression of thoughts and feelings and in terms of their understanding of what the therapist is trying to convey to them. Stories have traditionally been used as a method of communicating ideas to children, yet stories can equally be used by children to reveal their internal life and emotions, and contain their experiences. Based on her extensive experience as a play therapist Ann Cattanach extends her acclaimed...

Play is one of the most creative opportunities open to a child, and is becoming of increasing interest to therapists and others in the caring professions. This book examines how children develop skills in play as a way of being creative, and how they can use play as a therapeutic process by mirroring their own life experiences in their games. Ann Cattanach outlines the theoretical basis and provides guidelines for work in this area. She examines the role of the therapist, and the different methods involved in therapy, such as creative free play and task-based play. Also covered is the use of...

Praise for the first edition: 'Ann Cattanach writes with enormous empathy and warmth, and with a refreshing lack of sentimentality... This] is an unpretentious and optimistic book, and a very positive addition to recent publications.' - British Association of Play Therapists 'I would recommend the book to anyone working in this field. This is a well presented, clear and easy-to-read book, providing a balanced mixture of factual information and case material.' - British Journal of Occupational Therapy 'What impressed me so much about this work was Cattanach's knowledge of children and their...

Dramatherapy is being increasingly practised in a range of therapeutic settings and is of growing interest to theatre practitioners and teachers. The Handbook of Dramatherapy brings together five authors who have considerable experience of clinical, artistic and educational work to provide an easy-to-read introduction to the major models of dramatherapy. The authors explain the differences between dramatherapy and psychodrama, discuss its relationship with theatre art, look at assessment and evaluation techniques, and argue the need for more appropriate methods of research for this...