Play-based Interventions for Childhood Anxieties, Fears, and Phobias

Illustrating the power of play for helping children overcome a wide variety of worries, fears, and phobias, this book provides a toolkit of play therapy approaches and techniques. Coverage encompasses everyday fears and worries in 3- to 12-year-olds as well as anxiety disorders and posttraumatic problems. Leading practitioners describe their approaches step by step and share vivid illustrative case material. Each chapter also summarizes the research base for the interventions discussed. Key topics include adapting therapy to each child's developmental level, engaging reluctant or less communicative clients, and involving parents in treatment.

Athena A. Drewes, Psych, RPT-S, is a licensed child psychologist, certified school psychologist, and registered play therapist and supervisor. She is Director of Clinical Training and the Psychology Doctoral Internship at Astor Services for Children and Families in Poughkeepsie, New York. Since the 1970s, Dr. Drewes has utilized an integrative play therapy approach with children and adolescents experiencing a range of clinical issues in school and in outpatient and inpatient settings. She is a past board member of the Association for Play Therapy and founder and president emeritus of the New York Association for Play Therapy. She has published numerous books on play therapy and is a frequently invited guest lecturer in the United States and internationally.

Charles E. Schaefer, PhD, RPT-S, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. Dr. Schaefer is cofounder and director emeritus of the Association for Play Therapy, which recognized him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. His more than 60 books include Essential Play TherapyTechniques: Time-Tested Approaches; Short-Term Play Therapy for Children, Third Edition; and Play-Based Interventions for Childhood Anxieties, Fears, and Phobias. He maintains a private practice in child psychotherapy in Hackensack, New Jersey.