SAND THERAPY (SANDPLAY) IN WORKING WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: JUSTIFICATION OF THE METHOD, SCOPE AND EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

Abstract. The widespread popularity of various techniques of «playing with sand» and their active implementation in psychological and pedagogical practice requires proper justification of the method’s effectiveness. The purpose of the article is to review the current state of sand therapy in the world and to outline the possibilities of its use, confirmed by scientific research. The author describes the history of the method and its spread around the world; and explains the deep mechanisms of mental self-regulation in the process of spontaneous children’s play. The role of Jungian psychoanalysis as a theoretical basis for sandplay therapy is defined: symbolic play creates communication between the conscious and unconscious, which in turn allows changing the relationship between the Egoconsciousness and the Self. The ideas of Eastern philosophy (conscious presence, self-knowledge, and spontaneous creativity) incorporated into the method contributed to its popularity in the countries of the East, where the most powerful practical schools of sandplay have been formed. The current state of sandplay therapy is reviewed: numerous branches from the classical Kalfa approach and its combination with other well-known psychological methods are described. Active implementation of sandplay in the practice of school counseling is accompanied by the development of group forms of work. The use of the definitions of «sand therapy» and «sandplay» in the context of existing methodological traditions is substantiated. The experience of applying sandplay therapy to children and adolescents and evidence of its effectiveness are analyzed in detail. The accumulated experimental results show a positive effect on somatically ill patients in various problematic and healthy samples: improvement of emotional state, correction of anxiety and depressive symptoms, behavioral disorders, improvement of social interaction, overcoming adaptation problems, development of self-identity, etc. This method is especially useful in groups of children who have difficulty communicating through verbal means. The author concludes that the use of sand therapy in group and individual work is expedient and reasonable.