Play Therapy for Anxiety Disorders and Affect Regulation

There is persuasive evidence from a range of studies that anxiety disorders (separation anxiety disorder, specific phobias, social phobia, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder) are the most frequent mental disorders in children and adolescents. Such children have significant difficulty regulating their anxiety and emotions, which in turn impacts their behavior, cognition, and relationships, both at home and at school. Assisting children and adolescents to develop coping skills to better regulate their emotions and anxiety is one of the most common treatment objectives in play therapy. This course reviews a spectrum of psychological theories that address emotional regulation and developmentally normal and abnormal anxiety, methods of assessment of affected children, and play therapy approaches and interventions to reduce anxiety, increase affect regulation, manage stress, and increase resiliency throughout the lifespan.