Play-Based Interventions for Childhood Anxieties, Fears, and Phobias

Illustrating the power of play for helping children overcome a wide variety of worries, fears, and phobias, this book provides a toolkit of play therapy approaches and techniques. Coverage encompasses everyday fears and worries in 3- to 12-year-olds as well as anxiety disorders and posttraumatic problems. Leading practitioners describe their approaches step by step and share vivid illustrative case material. Each chapter also summarizes the research base for the interventions discussed. Key topics include adapting therapy to each child's developmental level, engaging reluctant or less communicative clients, and involving parents in treatment.

Introduction
1. Play-Based Approaches for Treating Childhood Anxieties: Basic Concepts and Practices, Charles E. Schaefer & Athena A. Drewes
I. Common Childhood Fears and Anxieties
2. Anxiety and the Hospitalized Child: Best Practices for Guiding Therapeutic Play, Donna Koller
3. Play Interventions for Children’s Nighttime Fears, Julie Blundon Nash
4. Play Therapy Practices with Children Experiencing Nightmares, Deborah Armstrong
5. Play-Based Treatment for School-Related Fears and Phobias of Children, Clair Mellenthin
6. Release Play Interventions for Children Who Experienced Stressful Life Events, Heidi Gerard Kaduson
II. Specific Anxiety Disorders
7. Integrating Play and Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions to Treat Childhood Worries and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Taming Worry Dragons, Sandra L. Clark & E. Jane Garland
8. Theraplay as a Treatment for Children with Selective Mutism: Integrating the Polyvagal Theory, Attachment Theory and Social Communication, Lydia C. Glibota, Sandra Lindaman, & A. Rand Coleman
9. Integrating Play Therapy into Treatment of Children with Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, Eric Green & Amie C. Myrick
10. Play Therapy for Separation Anxiety in Children, Paris Goodyear-Brown & Elizabeth Andersen
11. Effective Play-Based Interventions for Social Anxiety Disorder, Vicente E. Caballo, Isabel C. Salazar, & Thomas H. Ollendick
12. Integrating Play Therapy into Single-Session Behavioral Treatment for Preschool Children with Specific Phobias, Erinn N. Munro Lee, Helen Kershaw, & Lara J. Farrell
III. Posttraumatic Anxieties
13. Play-Based Interventions for Children Traumatized by Natural and Human-Made Disasters, Akiko J. Ohnogi
14. Helping Sexually Abused Children Overcome Anxiety: A Play-Based Integrative Approach, Andrea Driggs McLeod
Appendix: Helpful Bibliotherapy Books
Index

Athena A. Drewes, Psych, RPT-S, is a licensed psychologist, certified school psychologist, and registered play therapist and supervisor. Dr. Drewes is semi-retired in Ocala, Florida. She has over 40 years of clinical and supervision experience with children and adolescents experiencing complex trauma and sexual abuse in school, outpatient, and inpatient settings. She is a past board member of the Association for Play Therapy and a founder and president emeritus of the New York Association for Play Therapy. A frequently invited guest lecturer around the United States and internationally, Dr. Drewes has published 11 books on play therapy.

Charles E. Schaefer, PhD, RPT-S, until his death in 2020, was Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University. A pioneering play therapist, he was Cofounder and Director Emeritus of the Association for Play Therapy, which recognized him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Schaefer published more than 100 research articles and over 70 professional books, including Prescriptive Play Therapy; Play-Based Interventions for Childhood Anxieties, Fears, and Phobias; and Essential Play Therapy Techniques.