아동의 심리발달 과정에서 전쟁놀이 의미에 대한 고찰: 만7세 남아의 놀이치료 단일 사례를 중심으로

A study on the meaning of struggle play in the process of children’s psychological development: Focusing on a single case of play therapy for a 7-year-old boy

The purpose of this study was to examine how the process of children’s self-development and psychological separation proceeds in play through case analysis of children’s play therapy with anxiety symptoms and to examine the integrated role of play therapy and sand play therapy in this process. To this end, a total of 27 session play treatments were conducted. Since then, the child’s sandbox and the entire play content were analyzed, respectively. Based on these analysis, implications for the complementary role of play and sand play in play therapy were derived. The results of this study are as follows. First, in the child’s sandbox, the pattern of struggle for self-differentiation and self-growth appeared as a developmental composition, showing the child’s self-development process. In children’s play behavior, there was also a direction of progress in all aspects of emotion, relationship, motivation, behavior, cognition, and attention. Second, the sandbox became a tool to solve children’s developmental tasks continuously and in depth in the play therapy room, and when exhaustion and confusion were experienced in this process, the space outside of the box became a place to rest. In addition, playing outside the box was used by children to confirm and practice their progress through interaction with therapists.