Sandplay therapy made its debut in the 1950s as a non-verbal way for psychotherapy clients to communicate their deepest needs. Sandplay takes advantage of the natural ability of children and adults to role-play, using small figurines in a small sandbox, cultivating self-expression and healing. As Kay Bradway describes in her article "What is Sandplay?" published in the Sandplay Therapists of America website, sandplay therapy is not the same as "sand tray therapy," a more generic form of sand play that can be approached from many different psychological perspectives. Rather, sandplay therapy springs from the tradition of Jungian psychotherapy.
Self-Development
The major goal of sandplay therapy is to quicken self-development. In Jungian psychology, this process is called "individuation" and involves the integration of the self with the unconscious. In her "Introduction to Sandplay" article on the Sandplay Therapists of America website, founder Dora Kalff described how sandplay is spontaneous and fun. The client is encouraged to set up a "sand world" that expresses his inner life. Sandplay becomes a window into deep and unexpressed needs that are responsible for mental instability or ill-health.
Expressing Fears and Anger
While the philosophy of Jungian therapy has a reputation for its complexity, the benefits of sandplay are actually quite practical and down-to-earth. For children, sandplay gives safe expression to fears and angers that are difficult to articulate. As Dora Kalff explains, the therapist does not interpret the session for the client but "holds the space" for these feelings to arise. Working with parents, therapists can help families work through family patterns that are creating conflicts in children. For adults, sandplay therapy also facilitates the acknowledgment of hidden anger and frustration.
Building Trust
In adults, and also traumatized children, trust is essential for play. Sandplay therapy effectively develops trust between the client and the therapist by mirroring the archetypal relationship of the child and mother. In other words, this kind of supervised play helps re-establish safe attachments to facilitate social expression, according to a review of sandplay therapy by the Colorado Sandplay Therapy Association.
Facilitates Social Development
Beyond the personal benefits, sandplay therapy also assists in social development and building interaction skills for groups. A 2005 study published in the journal Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported sandplay therapy successfully helped immigrant children interact and form social alliances with other children. Because the basis of sandplay therapy is creativity and imagination, the activity allows children to circumvent language barriers with constructive and supervised play.
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