“It actually reveals things to me​ about myself”:​  How Play Becomes Real in the Oaklander Approach

ABSTRACT

Freud’s game-like use of associations was intended to get his patients thinking laterally and not literally. Perls’s use of the “empty chair” aimed to help his clients engage in “as if” scenarios, akin to the make-believe play of children. Yet, playfulness has lost ground over the years to the bullying forces of logic, language, and outcome-based measures that permeate our therapeutic field. In this article, the work of Gestalt play therapist Violet Oaklander is analyzed to provide a much-needed model of how
play helps therapy become real for both adults and children.

“People tend to forget that play is serious.”


— David Hockney

2015 Mortola, It Actually Reveals…GRDownload
Avatar photo
Peter Mortola, Ph.D.

Peter Mortola, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of School and Counseling Psychology at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where he coordinates the School Psychology Program. He teaches classes on lifespan development, group counseling for children, and consultation in the schools. He also leads preventative groups for fifth-grade boys at a local elementary school and is in the process of publishing a book on the subject. Peter has worked closely with Dr. Violet Oaklander over the past ten years, attending nine intensive summer trainings, and is in the process of publishing a book on the Oaklander method of training adults to do therapy with children through the GestaltPress. Peter can be contacted at this email: pmortola@lclark.edu.

Related Posts