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Assistant Editor's Note
BOOK FORUM
Laura M. Prager, M.D. Assistant Editor
Assistant Editor’s Note ccording to reviewers Afsari and Ghuman, the strengths of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology lie in its coverage of the biological factors (specifically genetic and neurodevelopmental) that predispose to psychiatric illness. Unfortunately, psychodynamic and social factors that might also be causative receive less attention. To balance the scales, the other two books reviewed this month, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Children: A Guide for the Community Practitioner and The Handbook of Play Therapy and Therapeutic Play, address nonbiologically based treatment strategies for children with psychiatric illness. Ironically, each book has a similar problem: narrow focus and little attempt to connect the dots. Combining these reviews into one Book Forum attempts to do just that.
A
Handbook of Play Therapy and Therapeutic Play, 2nd ed. By Linnet McMahon. New York: Routledge; 2009; 281 pp., $36.95 (softcover).
P
sychotherapy training increasingly emphasizes measurable outcomes, easily described exercises for patients, and conceptual frameworks that are straightforward enough to draw on a piece of paper and hand to a parent, saying “this is what I think is going on with your child’s mind.” To a large degree, training in psychodynamic therapy is not organized around any of these principles, and this is especially true of psychodynamic therapies for children. Child psychiatrists practice in a post-psychodynamic world, squeezed and sometimes lost between the somewhat limited
and literal scope of cognitive-behavioral approaches and the expansive, metaphoric vision of psychodynamic theory. The need for a bridge between these two views of the patient is keenly felt by anyone who wonders how, in this post-psychodynamic world, a clinician should approach the subject of play and its application in the service of the child patient. Unfortunately, and despite its strengths, The Handbook of Play Therapy and Therapeutic Play is not that particular bridge. Rather, this book provides a very readable, if at times redundant, synopsis of contemporary and historical psychoanalytic approaches to play therapy and how this theoretical approach can be applied in several clinical settings. The author, Linnet McMahon, has many decades of experience playing with children in the service of therapy and supervises and teaches other child mental health workers. Her agenda is to show the reader how essential play is for normal child development and how it occurs and can be used in the therapeutic setting. Chapters 1 and 2 are definitely worth reading by anyone interested in the psychodynamic approach to play in the context of therapy with children. The author usefully reviews how influential clinicians such as Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and Erik Erikson viewed and used play in their work. Chapter 3 provides more specifics about using play in different clinical settings, and there is a useful list on page 77 of the kinds of toys a play therapist ought to have in the toy chest. The remaining chapters provide many interesting case examples, but the content is largely redundant and has been covered in the first three chapters. The weakness of the book is the tendency to restate psychodynamic theory as empirical fact. Thus, “Healing occurs both through the child playing out their experiences in play and through an emotionally containing relationship with the therapist” (p. 67). The paragraph preceding this sentence describes multiple benefits of play, in-
JOURNAL 416
www.jaacap.org
OF THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY VOLUME 50 NUMBER 4 APRIL 2011
Laura M. Prager, M.D. Assistant Editor
Assistant Editor’s Note ccording to reviewers Afsari and Ghuman, the strengths of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology lie in its coverage of the biological factors (specifically genetic and neurodevelopmental) that predispose to psychiatric illness. Unfortunately, psychodynamic and social factors that might also be causative receive less attention. To balance the scales, the other two books reviewed this month, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Children: A Guide for the Community Practitioner and The Handbook of Play Therapy and Therapeutic Play, address nonbiologically based treatment strategies for children with psychiatric illness. Ironically, each book has a similar problem: narrow focus and little attempt to connect the dots. Combining these reviews into one Book Forum attempts to do just that.
A
Handbook of Play Therapy and Therapeutic Play, 2nd ed. By Linnet McMahon. New York: Routledge; 2009; 281 pp., $36.95 (softcover).
P
sychotherapy training increasingly emphasizes measurable outcomes, easily described exercises for patients, and conceptual frameworks that are straightforward enough to draw on a piece of paper and hand to a parent, saying “this is what I think is going on with your child’s mind.” To a large degree, training in psychodynamic therapy is not organized around any of these principles, and this is especially true of psychodynamic therapies for children. Child psychiatrists practice in a post-psychodynamic world, squeezed and sometimes lost between the somewhat limited
and literal scope of cognitive-behavioral approaches and the expansive, metaphoric vision of psychodynamic theory. The need for a bridge between these two views of the patient is keenly felt by anyone who wonders how, in this post-psychodynamic world, a clinician should approach the subject of play and its application in the service of the child patient. Unfortunately, and despite its strengths, The Handbook of Play Therapy and Therapeutic Play is not that particular bridge. Rather, this book provides a very readable, if at times redundant, synopsis of contemporary and historical psychoanalytic approaches to play therapy and how this theoretical approach can be applied in several clinical settings. The author, Linnet McMahon, has many decades of experience playing with children in the service of therapy and supervises and teaches other child mental health workers. Her agenda is to show the reader how essential play is for normal child development and how it occurs and can be used in the therapeutic setting. Chapters 1 and 2 are definitely worth reading by anyone interested in the psychodynamic approach to play in the context of therapy with children. The author usefully reviews how influential clinicians such as Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and Erik Erikson viewed and used play in their work. Chapter 3 provides more specifics about using play in different clinical settings, and there is a useful list on page 77 of the kinds of toys a play therapist ought to have in the toy chest. The remaining chapters provide many interesting case examples, but the content is largely redundant and has been covered in the first three chapters. The weakness of the book is the tendency to restate psychodynamic theory as empirical fact. Thus, “Healing occurs both through the child playing out their experiences in play and through an emotionally containing relationship with the therapist” (p. 67). The paragraph preceding this sentence describes multiple benefits of play, in-
JOURNAL 416
www.jaacap.org
OF THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY VOLUME 50 NUMBER 4 APRIL 2011