Playing for Their Lives

by Dorothy G. Singer

Presents stories of troubled children drawn from the author's private therapy practice, showing the effects of common social problems on children and explaining how they can be healed

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

235 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1993

Reviews

[Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains the stories of six troubled children and how the author/psychologist helps them through play therapy. With each child the author provides the family history, and is very open about sharing her thoughts and feelings about each case. She also goes into to great detail about how she preforms the play therapy and provides detailed dialogue sequences. Very helpful if you're are doing therapy with children!

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so much a how-to as a series of case studies that illustrate principles and strategies of play therapy. It's often interesting and helpful for me to read how a seasoned professional approaches and conceptualizes cases and then, later, assesses the work they've done (and potential changes they might have made). This provides much of that, though I wish there was a bit more info on the theory behind the practice, as well as specific interventions.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each chapter of this book followed the story of a typical child in counseling. Different scenarios/topics included; bereavement, ADHD, substance abusing parents, divorce, sexual abuse, etc. I liked having a look at how the children progressed through play therapy but I wish she was more specific about the techniques she used.