Who can sand therapy help and how does it work

What is sand therapy

Sand therapy is one of the psychologists' tools that is usedWhat Is Sand Tray Therapy? / Verywell Mind mainly in working with children, but also effective for counseling adults. For her, they use the actual container with ordinary or kinetic sand and a set of small figures - animals, people, houses, trees, dinosaurs, fantastic creatures.

This technique, which is considered a type of play and art therapy, was developed byWorking with Dora Kalff / Sandplay therapists of America and introduced into practice by the psychotherapist Dora Kalff. She combined the techniques of the Jungian approach in psychotherapy, Buddhist techniques, elements of play and creativity.

Sand therapy refers to projective techniques. It makes it possible to bypass the protective mechanisms of the human psyche and help him in the form of play or creativity to tell about what worries him. In addition, playing with sand is a pleasant meditative activity that allows you to relax, feel comfortable, relieve stress, and tune in to work with a psychotherapist.

How sand therapy works

After a preliminary conversation, the psychologist gives a container of sand and a set of figures and asks the client to build a composition that reflects his inner state, disturbing problem, relationships with loved ones, possible ways for him to solve life difficulties. Or just give free rein to creativity and blind everything that your heart desires.

After that, the client and the specialist discuss the resulting sand "installation": what does it mean; why its author built the figurines this way and not otherwise; what objects symbolize for him; how it all intersects with his life at the moment. The psychologist may also ask you to re-arrange the composition to help the client change their attitude to certain issues or look at them from a different angle.

Who does sand therapy help?

First of all, children. If only because they like to play with sand and prejudices, that it is stupid and frivolous, they do not. Therefore, it is in working with children that sand therapy techniques are used most often and it is on them that few studies of this method are concentrated.

For children, sand therapy is effective in several cases.

1. If they've been through trauma. Including - physical and sexualized violenceH.-J. Kang. Supportive music and imagery with sandplay for child witnesses of domestic violence: A pilot study report / The Arts in Psychotherapy. Sand and figurines make it easier for themM. D. L. Angeles Tornero, C. Capella. Change during psychotherapy through sand play tray in children that have been sexually abused / Frontiers in Psychology talk about their experiences, especially if they are too young and cannot find the right words. In addition, practicing with sand helps to improve the emotional state.
2. If they have an autism spectrum disorder. For example, children with Asperger Syndrome, thanks to sand therapy, feelH. Caoa, W. Shanb, Y. Xua, R. Xua. Eastern sandplay as a safe container for a combined intervention for a child with Asperger syndrome: A case study / The Arts in Psychotherapy better themselves and develop skills to interact with other people.
3. If they behave aggressively. One small study foundY. Han, Y. Lee, J. Hyun Suh. Effects of a sandplay therapy program at a childcare center on children with externalizing behavioral problems / The Arts in Psychotherapythat after 16 half-hour sand therapy sessions, the children became less excitable and aggressive.
4. If they suffer from low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. Primary school students from South Korea after sand therapy becameH. J. Kwak, U. K. Ahn, M. H. Lim. The clinical effects of school sandplay group therapy on general children with a focus on Korea Child & Youth Personality Test / BMC Psychology more self-confident, and their depressive symptoms decreased. For schoolchildren with manifestations of anxiety, sand therapy also turned out to beO. P. Bartosh, T. P. Bartosh. The effectiveness of various types of psychological correction of anxiety in primary school / Behavioral Sciences effective.

For adults, sand therapy is also used, but there is almost no research on this topic, as well as a clear list of indications. Therefore, experts use this approach at their discretion, for example, to helpM. Janga, Y.-h. Kimb. The effect of group sandplay therapy on the social anxiety, loneliness and self-expression of migrant women in international marriages in South Korea / The Arts in Psychotherapy clients to cope with stress, to survive traumatic events, to get out of a difficult situation.

Whom sand therapy is not suitable for

First of all, those who do not like the method in advance and who cause strong resistance. For example, playing with sand seems frivolous to a person, he does not like such activities, he is embarrassed to build houses and arrange figures in front of a specialist. Or he doubts that it is generally effective and the psychologist will be able to correctly interpret his composition and draw the right conclusions. In these cases, psychotherapists try to choose other approaches.

It is also important to remember that sand therapy is only one of the tools, it is not universal and cannot magically solve all problems.

Can sand therapy techniques be used alone?

You are unlikely to arrange a full-fledged therapy for yourself: there simply will not be a person nearby who will help you figure out what you have built and how to interpret it.

At the same time, no one forbids playing with sand. It is a pleasant, harmless and inexpensive activity that helpsExploring the benefits of sand tray therapy for adults / Good Therapy relax, relieve stress and feel like a child again. For example, a little researchY.-M. Kim, M.-K. Jang. The effects of sand play therapy on parenting stress and saliva cortisol levels of parents undergoing child counseling programs / Korean Journal of Child Studies showed that after playing with sand in adults, the level of cortisol, a hormone responsible for the response to stress, decreases in saliva.

You can buy yourself a couple of kilos of colorful kinetic sand, molds, figurines and build whatever you like. Or just pour sand from palm into palm, crush it in your hands, sculpt "Easter cakes" and "pies", draw different faces, squiggles and symbols on the surface. If after that you feel more comfortable and calmer, you can assume that sand therapy was a success.

Asya Ploshkina