Release therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · David M. Levy · 1933 · New York

What it is

Release therapy is a directive, structured form of play therapy for young children. David M. Levy (1892–1977) was a New York child psychiatrist. He was chief of staff of the New York Institute for Child Guidance and opened a private practice in New York in 1933. His papers credit him with…

Format

• The sources give no manual-level phase structure, session count or criteria for moving between phases. The documented sequence has two steps. First the child plays freely until comfortable. Then the therapist introduces materials related to the stressful event. The method is described for a child…
• Format: individual sessions with the child, plus separate caregiver meetings. Kaduson's chapter appears in a book titled Short-Term Play Therapy for Children, which places it among brief approaches. No session count was found, either Levy's or one specific to release therapy. Chauhan et al. (2024)…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Kaduson's current version presents release play as a way to help children with PTSD after a single traumatic event (Type I trauma) work through and master that event. It uses directive techniques, Freud's idea of abreaction (reliving an experience to discharge the feeling tied to it) and work on irrational thinking.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Whether the corrected belief shows up in the child's later play or talk.
• Whether the child can calm down with your help. If not, delay release work.
• Distress that goes beyond the scene, or a family situation that is actually unsafe.
• The child still being distressed at handover. Extend calming time and phone the caregiver later that day.
• A caregiver who pushes the child to "talk about it" at home. Ask them to avoid questioning and to report behaviour instead.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.