CASE PSYCHOLOGIST EXPLORES PRETEND PLAY AND ITS ROLE IN PSYCHOLOGY, THERAPY
03 February 2007 - Case Western Reserve University

Sandra Russ
Pretend play, with children acting out their imaginations and emotions, is a complex phenomenon, said Russ. One that from which all children can benefit.

For the first time, Russ has collected more than 70 years of research on play from the fields of child development and psychotherapy to give professionals therapists and psychologists, educators-and parents-a new look at the importance of play in children's lives. This is the first time research from the two fields has been brought together in one book.

Studying and using play has evolved from beliefs that adults work out their problems, but children play out theirs, says Russ.

Play is not a simple matter. "Pretend play involves a myriad of processes and behaviors that change from moment to moment," writes Russ. Understanding how children play can aid in child development as well as using play as a tool in psychotherapy.

"My main goal for writing the book was to gather together the research literature from child development and psychotherapy and say 'look at how play can help kids from the child development point of view and let's try to inform the therapists with this knowledge,'" states Russ.

While therapists have used play since the 1930s when Anna Freud first proposed this intervention for psychiatry, few studies of how play works in therapy have been done. With the field of psychology and psychiatry moving toward using empirically based interventions or those that have been studied for results, Russ points out it is important to understand how play functions and how children benefit from it.

For almost three decades, Russ has devoted her research time to creativity and children's play. She was one of the pioneers in play to develop the Affect Play Scale, a test that uses puppets and wood blocks to measure the range of emotions and creativity a child employs in his or her play. Her book provides the psychological community with a newly updated play scale as well as a review of play intervention studies that show how play has reduced anxiety in separation situations and other anxious times in a child's life.

Russ' findings have led to understanding the importance of play as an adaptive tool that helps children cope with stressful situations within play's make believe structure for expressing emotions as well as a way for a child to practice being creative in their problem solving.

Her longitudinal studies with a group of children for more than a decade have shown that "good" players-those children who express a wide range of emotions and use creativity in play-at a young age continue to use their play skills in redefined and mature ways into their high school years.

"Not all children are good players," warns Russ, adding that the ability to be a good player is independent of intelligence. It also is dependent upon the family and its environment, with the parent's warmth and emotional sensitivity, in addition to the parent's verbal abilities.

For good players, using play in psychotherapy can be helpful. She cautions that the results may be less so for those who do not play well. "Therapists can use the information from child development specialists to understand what makes a child a good player," adds Russ.

Play can benefit not only the unemotional child to learn how to express or release bottled-up emotions, but the overly excited child can use play to diffuse or calm down, states Russ.

"There is plenty of potential for the use of play in children's lives," explains Russ.

And in spite of a world where computer games, television and planned activities and classes monopolize children's lives, Russ states that play remains an important and natural part of childhood.

http://www.case.edu

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