Relationship play therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Clark Moustakas · 1953

What it is

Relationship play therapy is a humanistic, relationship-centred way of doing play therapy with children. It grew out of the relationship-therapy line of Otto Rank as adapted by Jessie Taft and Frederick Allen, and it sits close to Rogerian and Axline-style non-directive play therapy. Moustakas used…

Format

• Moustakas describes a relationship and an emotional process, not a manualised sequence of sessions. No fixed protocol is published in the sources cited. The framework below combines his published process with standard clinical structure; each part is tagged.
• The following are: whether this list matches Moustakas's own 1955 wording; the paper's findings on how well-adjusted and disturbed children differ (its title points to the frequency and intensity of negative attitudes); and any number of sessions per level. Use the levels to track progress in…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• The five levels in fuller form. Later writers call Moustakas's scheme his "Levels of Emotional Process". It comes from his 1955 paper, "The frequency and intensity of negative attitudes expressed in play therapy…", reprinted in 1982 as "Emotional adjustment and the play therapy process". Wikipedia gives the paper as volume 86, pages 79–99, but names the journal inconsistently, as both the Journal of General…
• Version followed: Clark Moustakas's relationship play therapy as presented in Relationship Play Therapy (Jason Aronson, 1997) and in the two 1997 Center for Play Therapy (University of North Texas) teaching videos, Relationship Play Therapy (a live, unscripted session) and Reflections on Relationship Play Therapy (a 56-minute discussion directed by Garry Landreth). Earlier Moustakas works shape the approach:…
• Professional frame. This is a method for trained clinicians, not a standalone qualification. In the US, the Association for Play Therapy (APT) awards the Registered Play Therapist (RPT) credential on top of a mental-health licence. In the UK, play therapy is not an HCPC-protected title. Practitioners train through programmes recognised by the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT) or Play Therapy UK (PTUK),…

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 fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• 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

• a temporary return of earlier behaviour (common and usually brief).
• carers using play time to teach or correct; children for whom home is unsafe.
• a "sudden" change that is actually a response to harm or risk; screen for safeguarding before treating it as reactive.
• your own urge to teach, tidy or improve the game. It is working when the child moves from asking permission to making confident choices.
• your own impatience (pressure from carers, schools or the referral). It is working when a withheld child begins small initiatives without being asked.

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.