What is game therapy? Games used for psychotherapeutic effects on adults and children. This concept includes various techniques. But they are all united by the recognition that the game is capable of exerting a strong influence on the processes of personality development. After all, it is a unique phenomenon of universal culture, standing at its origins and towering at its peak. From the very beginning of the existence of civilization, the game has been a kind of control measure of the most important characteristics of an individual. The fact is that in none of the existing activities is a person able to demonstrate so much self-forgetfulness. Moreover, only in the game is the exposure of all those intellectual resources that an individual possesses. Take, for example, hockey and football. In these well-established game models, both adults and children act exactly as they would do in various extreme situations, being at the limit of their strength and capabilities in overcoming difficulties.
Game therapy in modern psychology is still a relatively young industry. The main work in this direction is carried out, as a rule, with children.
There was therapy with a game in the bowels of psychoanalysis in the first half of the 20th century. But as a practical technique, it was voiced and implemented only in 1992.
The method of psychological correction
Game therapy is a way of influencing a personality, which is based on the principles of the dynamics of its mental development. This method is designed to alleviate the emotional stress of a person by using a variety of means that give people of different ages food for imagination.
Such therapy for adults is used in the form of a wide variety of tasks, exercises and trainings on non-verbal communications. Also, the psychologist can offer his patients to play various situations, etc. During the game, close relations arise between its participants. This allows you to remove anxiety, tension and fear of those who surround the person. At the same time, his self-esteem increases. This provides an opportunity for an individual to test himself in certain communication situations and remove the danger of consequences that are socially significant.
For a child, the game is a type of self-therapy. Thanks to her, a growing person learns to react correctly to various troubles and conflicts. Very often, game therapy is the only way for a child to receive help. This becomes clear when refining the general indications for applying this technique. Among them are isolation and infantility, phobic reactions and lack of sociability, over-obedience and over-conformity, bad habits and behavioral disorders, and for boys, inadequate sex-role identification.
Game Therapy Objectives
What are the goals of this method of psychological correction? Among the main tasks of game therapy, which is one of the types of art therapy, there are:
- relief of psychological suffering of the child;
- the development of a young patient’s sense of self-esteem and the strengthening of his own “I” in him;
- restoration of trust in peers and adults with optimization of relations with them;
- development of the ability for emotional self-regulation;
- prevention and correction of various deformations during the formation of the "I-concept";
- prevention and correction of deviations in behavior.
Game therapy feature
Psychocorrectional classes conducted by this method can produce a positive effect due to the fact that between adults and children in the process of conducting a positive emotional relationship. This takes into account such a feature of the game as its two-pronged nature, which determines the developmental effect. The purpose of such a correction is to organize assistance in establishing a sense of self-worth, your "I".
Each child is unique. Like any person, he has his own internal sources of self-development. The game suppresses fears and negative emotions, as well as self-doubt. At the same time, children expand their ability to communicate and significantly increase the range of actions available to them with objects.
Game therapy also has certain non-specific effects that can have a positive effect on the mental development of the child. They appear when relieving emotional stress, which allows children to more fully and fully realize their abilities.
With well-conducted classes, the child is able to understand his feelings and determine how best to behave in a particular situation.
Game Therapy Functions
Activities to correct the psychological state of the child are necessary for:
- Diagnostics When conducting game therapy, the personality characteristics of a small patient are clarified, as well as his relationships with people and the world around him. If you try to just enter into a conversation with a child, then he will most likely withdraw into himself for one reason or another. This will not allow an adult to get answers to his questions. A completely different situation develops in the presence of an informal situation. In this case, the baby will show everything that has been tested by him at the sensorimotor level. Performing spontaneous actions, the child is completely arbitrary, but at the same time will most fully express himself.
- Training. Already one or several occupations of the method will allow the child to expand his horizons and gain the ability to rebuild relationships. Thanks to game therapy, the baby is able to completely pass through the process of socialization and readaptation, as well as learn about the organization that the world around him has.
- Therapeutic function. At an early age, the outcome of the game to a small patient is not yet interesting. More important for him is the process itself, which allows you to express your fears and feelings, the awkwardness experienced in communicating with people, while finding a solution to problems and conflicts. As a result, the child develops and significantly strengthens the necessary mental processes with the gradual formation of tolerance and an adequate response to what is happening around.
Types and forms of occupation
There are many criteria according to which the classification of game therapy methods is performed. So, depending on the position that adults take during classes, it happens:
- Directive. Such game therapy is a directed process. In it, the adult for the child is the organizer. In this case, ready-made solutions to the proposed problem are offered to the small patient. During the game, the child independently comes to understand his own conflicts and himself.
- Non-directive. This game therapy is non-directional. During it, the adult's task is to try not to interfere in the activity, while creating a warm and comfortable atmosphere of trust and reliability around the small patient.
Game therapy is also distinguished by the structure possessed by the materials for its implementation. In this case, there are:
- Structured. These games are used while working with children whose age ranges from 4 to 12 years. All actions in this case are provoking an open expression of aggression (when using toy weapons), an expression of immediate desire (when using figures of people), a way to develop communication skills (in the form of fun with cars, trains and the phone).
- Unstructured. Such a game during therapy for preschoolers can be sports exercises and outdoor activities, work with plasticine, clay, water, sand, etc. All this allows the child to indirectly express his feelings, because of which the baby has a feeling of freedom.
There are various types of game therapy in the form that was used to organize the process. This list contains classes:
Which type of game therapy is best used by psychologists?
One that will allow you to find the best way to solve the problems and achieve the necessary goals facing the experts.
Group classes
In order to determine the necessary type of game therapy, the teacher in each case must analyze the need for children to communicate. In the event that it has not yet been formed, classes should be individual. If this is all right, then the most preferred form of game therapy is a group. It will allow children to calmly communicate with each other and most fully disclose at the same time.
A game-therapy for children, conducted in a group, will allow a preschooler to increase self-esteem, begin to realize himself as a person, respond correctly to the emergence of negative internal emotions, reduce the feeling of anxiety, guilt and anxiety. In this process, the kids watch each other and strive to try out a role in the game themselves. The purpose of the specialist’s work is not the whole group, but each of its members individually. The optimal number of players in this case is 1 adult and 5 children. Preschoolers must be all the same age with a difference of no more than 1 year.
When using game therapy, each child in the group produces:
- positive “I” concept;
- responsibility for actions;
- self-control skills;
- ability to make independent decisions;
- faith in your own "I".
Over time, unstructured game therapy is being replaced by structured one. This type of activity allows preschoolers to freely express their feelings and emotions, even the most aggressive ones. This will make it easier for the psychologist to track and correct them.
Classroom Tools
The room for conducting game therapy should be equipped with tables with a wooden tabletop. It is good if slides with drawers are installed in it, on the surface of which it will be possible to draw, and then erase the images.
Also in the room for such therapy, the following toys and materials are required:
- Puppets, vehicles, houses, puppets, cash desk and so on. All of them will allow to convey the reality of the surrounding world.
- Paints with a music stand, cubes, water, sand, clay. These materials are necessary to weaken the emotions and self-expression of the child in the work.
- Rubber knife, soldiers, animals of prey, guns. These toys will enable you to respond to aggression.
Consider examples of games for classes with preschoolers.
Sand therapy
Psychologists began to apply this method in the 20s of the 20th century. The author of this method of personality correction was Dora Calff - a Jungian analyst. Games in sand therapy are used to work with psychologically disadvantaged children. They contribute to the development of a child’s spatial imagination, teach him logical thinking and develop fine motor skills. Sand therapy when playing with sand allows the child to calm down. That is why this area of ​​psychocorrectional work is especially indicated for preschoolers with hyperactivity.
Sand therapy (games with sand) contains gymnastics for the hands, acting skills, the embodiment of fantasies and much more that positively affects the child, develops his sensitive skills and stimulates cognitive processes. In addition, this direction allows the baby to correlate his actions with real life, eliminate muscle tension, improve eyesight, learn letters, develop hearing, acquire reading and writing skills.
Games in sand therapy do not have to be held in the psychologist’s office. A beach, a children's sandbox, or just a pile of sand brought for construction are perfect for them. A box with this natural material can be installed in the apartment. For sand games, sand therapy will also require symbols of the real world. These can be figures of animals, fairy-tale heroes and people, cars and houses, natural materials and plants, etc. After preparing for classes, the child must be given complete creative freedom. Adults should not interfere with the baby with their advice, except when he asks for it himself.
Consider the games and exercises for art therapy using sand. Among them are those that allow you to develop general and fine motor skills. During such a game, the child should stand. This will allow him to use the main part of the muscles, form the correct posture, strengthen the musculoskeletal system and develop coordination of movements. When using sand therapy in a game for preschoolers, a child and an adult need to leave fingerprints and backs on a flat surface of natural material. After that, they need to share their feelings.
Further sand is recommended to be felt with fingertips. It can also be sprinkled on top of the palm of your hand. In this case, the child must explain whether it is pleasant to him or not. Such an exercise is designed to teach a child to examine a given object with his hands and listen to his own feelings. To relieve emotional stress, games should be conducted in a relaxed atmosphere. It will also allow the small patient to concentrate.
If necessary, you can include in a workshop on sand therapy and a game with sand to remove aggression. All actions in this case should end with positive emotions and the victory of good over evil. In order to eliminate the aggressive state of the baby, sand rain can be arranged. First, let it be a fine rain, placed on one palm. Further, the volume of sand will need to be increased. It can be scooped up with a children's bucket or two palms. It is important for the child to feel that he is involved in this rain. Only in this case will he be able to calm down and perceive further communication less aggressively.
Board games
Activities with children can be not only mobile. It is also possible to use board games. As art therapy, they contribute to the development of the child’s abilities and his personal qualities. In addition, they combine the game with training. That is why the holding of such classes can be a wonderful educational tool for preschoolers.
Board game therapy develops the child’s attention and visual memory, logic and quick wit, imaginative thinking and imagination. As a rule, several people should take part in such classes at once. In this case, the games of art therapy contribute to the interaction of children among themselves. Obeying the proposed rules, preschoolers learn to communicate with each other correctly, to be patient, waiting for the turn to make a move, empathize with their rivals, and accepting with dignity not only victories, but also defeats. Thus, board games in art therapy can correctly form the personal qualities of the child.
Among the main advantages of such classes is the lack of need for playgrounds and sophisticated equipment. For them, you only need a table and all the necessary items (cubes, chips, cards, etc.). Such games have the following advantages:
- they teach preschoolers to recognize and then memorize a variety of phenomena and objects, develop the child’s attention and expand their vocabulary, making it in an interesting and colorful form;
- prepare the baby for life, offering him certain problems, solving which the baby develops his skills, gaining life experience;
- contribute to improving reaction speed, agility, coordination of movement and eye.
For example, the board game Shopping Therapy. It is intended for girls. Its goal is to make as many purchases as possible while spending as little money as possible. During the game, participants will take turns making moves. This will allow them to get to the boutiques of the shopping center. It has two floors. On the first of them it is proposed to buy various outfits, as well as pick up accessories for them. The second floor is an entertainment area. You can get here during the course on the "elevator" field. The participant who was on the second floor must skip one lap. Here, when hit on the fields of restaurants and bars, she will have to pay a certain amount. The one who is lucky is on the field of luck. Here you can win a certain amount of prize money. The winner is the participant who managed to buy the most goods, spending less money on them.
Thus, “Shopping Therapy” is a game that is an interesting and exciting entertainment. Here, each of the participants will feel as if she got into a real shopping center, where she is invited to buy whatever she wants for money.
The game package includes the playing field itself, as well as 60 red and 24 yellow tokens. They are accompanied by 4 passports, 60 banknotes, a cube for moves, 72 cards, as well as 20 Excursion cards. Present in the kit and the rules of the game
Art Therapy and Computer
Modern man lives in the world of the latest digital technologies. That is why computers have become an integral part of our daily lives.
According to experts, modern children grow up much faster than it was, say, 10 years ago. They get acquainted with technology from a very early age, managing tablets and laptops better than their grandparents.
Computer today is an integral part of learning. And this applies not only to education received at the institute and at school. Gadgets are also used for those children who attend DOW. The developers have created many computer games that contribute to the development of memory and attention, helping the child learn how to count and learn letters. A PC is also used for psycho-correctional work with children.
For example, in the game "Intensive Care", the child is invited to help the young Android heroine, who is undergoing an internship in a hospital, cope with various difficulties that she encounters along the way, meet new people and make friends. The girl is coming and finding her love. The new work opens up unlimited opportunities for the heroine to communicate with patients and colleagues. The player’s task is to find a solution in unusual situations and in conversations, the development of the plot, as well as those relations that the heroine will have with other people, will depend on the choice in the future.