Changing preschoolers' mental representation in therapy: The mutative role of play.
Item
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Title
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Changing preschoolers' mental representation in therapy: The mutative role of play.
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Identifier
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AAI9986336
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identifier
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9986336
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Creator
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Hellner, Iris Michelle.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Anni Bergman
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Date
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2000
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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In this exploratory study preschoolers' mental representations of self and other were assessed before and after a year in play therapy to determine if changes had occurred. This study also analyzed patterns of the preschoolers' therapy play over the course of the year. The relationship between changes in mental representations of self and other and changes in the level of play structure was explored. The subjects were five preschoolers enrolled in a therapeutic nursery due to emotional problems and/or developmental delays. Each child received twice weekly individual play therapy.;Each subject was interviewed at the beginning and at the end of the therapy year using a semi-projective story-telling measure to elicit mental representations of self and other. A thematic code designed for this interview was adapted for the test-retest design of the current study and used to assess changes in the quality of mental representations and in the use of defenses. Play therapy sessions were videotaped on a monthly basis and were coded using scales that score the highest levels of fantasy play in each play episode. Qualitative case formulations were developed for each subject.;The results suggest that changes in mental representations had occurred. Most of the subjects demonstrated: (1) structural advances in therapy play and structural advances in mental representations and (2) an increase in mental representations of aggressive figures, hypothesized to be a treatment phenomena. Two tendencies among the subjects were also reported. The first reflected an increase in mental representations of nurturing figures, a decreased use of defenses, and structured fantasy play. The second reflected a decrease in mental representations of nurturing figures and an increase in abandoning figures, an increased use of defense, greater disorganization, and unstructured play. The following hypotheses were proposed: (1) smaller amounts of structured fantasy play may be linked to smaller amounts of representational change; (2) structured fantasy play enables play narratives representing clinical themes to develop and facilitates representational changes; (3) greater affect regulation may develop in structured fantasy play; and (4) uncontained affect in therapy may have a disorganizing impact on mental representations.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
