Theraplay is a therapeutic approach that uses elements of play therapy

Play therapy

Play therapy is generally employed with children aged 3 through 11 and provides a way for them to express their experiences and feelings through a natural, self-guided, self-healing process...

 with the intention of helping parents and children build better attachment

Attachment theory

Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...

 relationships through attachment-based play. It was developed in 1967 in Chicago by Ann M. Jernberg.

History of Theraplay

Ann Jernberg, Ph.D., became 1967 the Director of Psychological Services for the new Chicago Head Start program with one of her assistants Phyllis Booth. She and her team were asked to identify children in need of psychological services and refer them to existing treatment centers. However, there were very few resources for children's mental health at the time, and the existing ones could not possibly handle the hundreds of children identified as needing help. From that starting point Ann Jernberg started to create her own program that would treat children at the Head Start centers, rather than at outlying clinics, and could use paraprofessionals supervised by mental health professionals to do the actual work. The result was a model based on healthy parent-infant attachment and interaction that borrowed elements from the work of Austin Des Lauriers and Viola Brody. It is stated that attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby

John Bowlby

Edward John Mostyn "John" Bowlby was a British psychologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory.- Family background :...

, is the theoretical basis for Theraplay.

See also

• Attachment disorder
  Attachment disorder
  Attachment disorder is a broad term intended to describe disorders of mood, behavior, and social relationships arising from a failure to form normal attachments to primary care giving figures in early childhood, resulting in problematic social expectations and behaviors...
  
  
• Attachment therapy
  Attachment Therapy
  Attachment therapy is the most commonly used term for a controversial category of alternative child mental health interventions intended to treat attachment disorders. The term generally includes accompanying parenting techniques...
  
  
• Drama therapy
  Drama therapy
  Drama Therapy is the use of theatre techniques to facilitate personal growth and promote mental health. Dramatherapy is used in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, schools, mental health centers, prisons, and businesses...
  
  
• Human bonding
  Human bonding
  Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups such as sporting teams and whenever people spend time together...
  
  
• Object relations theory
  Object relations theory
  Object relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment....
  
  
• Play therapy
  Play therapy
  Play therapy is generally employed with children aged 3 through 11 and provides a way for them to express their experiences and feelings through a natural, self-guided, self-healing process...
  
  
• Play (activity)
  Play (activity)
  Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...
  
  
• Reactive attachment disorder
  Reactive attachment disorder
  Reactive attachment disorder is described in clinical literature as a severe and relatively uncommon disorder that can affect children. RAD is characterized by markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate ways of relating socially in most contexts...
  
  
• Psychotherapy
  Psychotherapy
  Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
  
  
• Dyadic developmental psychotherapy
  Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy
  Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy is a treatment approach for families that have children with symptoms of emotional disorders, including Complex Trauma and disorders of attachment. It was originally developed by psychologist Daniel Hughes as an intervention for children whose emotional distress...