"Focusing on the specific ingredients that activate clinical change, this book is enhanced by current research, more ample scope, and an array of contributions in contemporary and relevant topic areas. It is full of inspiration, direction, and grounding. This is a stunning contribution to the field of child therapy."

—Eliana Gil, PhD, Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education

A practical look at how play therapy can promote mental health wellness in children and adolescents

Revised and expanded, The Therapeutic Powers of Play, Second Edition explores the powerful effects that play therapy has on different areas within a child or adolescent's life: communication, emotion regulation, relationship enhancement, and personal strengths. Editors Charles Schaefer and Athena Drewes—renowned experts in the field of play therapy—discuss the different interventions and components of treatment that can move clients to change.

Leading play therapists contributed to this volume, supplying a wide repertoire of practical techniques and applications in each chapter for use in clinical practice, including:

• Direct teaching
• Indirect teaching
• Self-expression
• Relationship enhancement
• Attachment formation
• Catharsis
• Stress inoculation
• Creative problem solving
• Self-esteem

Filled with clinical case vignettes from various theoretical viewpoints, the second edition is an invaluable resource for play and child therapists of all levels of experience and theoretical orientations.

CHARLES E. SCHAEFER, PhD, RPT-S, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Dr. Schaefer has written or edited over fifty-five professional books, many on the topic of play therapy. He cofounded the Association for Play Therapy in 1982, which currently has over 6,000 members, and now serves as Director Emeritus for the organization.

ATHENA A. DREWES, PsyD, MA, RPT-S, is the Director of Clinical Training and the APA-Accredited Internship at Astor Services for Children & Families, a multiservice nonprofit agency in New York. She is past director of the Association for Play Therapy and serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Play Therapy.

Chapter 1 Introduction: How Play Therapy Causes Therapeutic Change

Athena A. Drewes and Charles Schaefer

 Part I Facilitates Communication

Chapter 2 Self-Expression

Mary Morrison Bennett and Stephanie Eberts

Chapter 3 Access To The Unconscious

David Crenshaw and Kathleen Tillman

Chapter 4 Direct Teaching

Theresa Fraser

Chapter 5 Indirect Teaching

Aideen Taylor de Faoite

Part II Fosters Emotional Wellness

Chapter 6 Catharsis

Athena A. Drewes and Charles E. Schaefer

Chapter 7 Abreaction

Eileen Prendiville

Chapter 8 Positive Emotions

Terry Kottman

Chapter 9 Counter-conditioning Fears

Tammi Van Hollander

Chapter 10 Stress Inoculation

Angela M. Cavett

Chapter 11 Stress Management

Kristin S. Bemis

Part III Enhances Social Relationships

Chapter 12 Therapeutic Relationship

Anne L. Stewart and Lennis G. Echterling

Chapter 13 Attachment

William F. Whelan and Anne L. Stewart

Chapter 14 Social Competence

Julie Blundon Nash

Chapter 15 Empathy

Richard Gaskill

Part IV Increases personal strengths

Chapter 16 Creative Problem Solving

Sandra W. Russ and Claire E. Wallace

Chapter 17 Resiliency

John Seymour

Chapter 18 Moral Development

Jill Packman

Chapter 19 Accelerated Psychological Development

Siobhán Prendiville

Chapter 20 Self-Regulation

Marcie Yeager & Daniel Yeager

Chapter 21 Self-Esteem

Diane Frey