It may sound silly to some but play has always been an alternative means for treating children with symptoms or problems such as depression, and even clinical depression. For the longest time, psychologists and psychiatrists believe that playtime for children with depression can help them connect with others, calm and relax anxiety, plus it can possibly improve their self-esteem in the process.

Furthermore, children often express themselves through playing and it has become a way for the therapists to determine these children’s cognition, perception, and even behavior; additionally, it also allows children to express their feelings and their thoughts safely without having to worry about receiving negative responses that may affect them further. If your child is suffering from depression, you know that there are numerous types of therapies utilized for treating such things, however, it may cause trauma to your child which may worsen their depression. This is the reason why play therapy has become a means to cure depression in kids, and you, as a parent can do a lot to help your child get better. Here are the steps for you to help your child get through depression with play therapy:

 

• You have to first manage your time and show your child that your full attention is on them, and once you have their full attention, this is the time when you can start the play therapy.

photo courtesy of www.playandfilialtherapy.com

 

• Try your best to focus on non-verbal communication to create a relationship that is non-verbal; this is necessary to build trust between each other, and when the time arises when words are needed, use declarative language to help these kids learn how to observe and reflect.

photo courtesy of rbk.h-cdn.co

 

• This time, engage in collaborative play with your child – this means partners in a game should help each other out to reach a common goal. This happens during play activities such as building a pillow fortress, learning new skateboard tricks with the Original Copter LED Skateboard, or letting the Whistle copter fly as high as it can reach. This is one of the best parts of play therapy since this is the process of humans to learn about emotional expression and self-regulation.