When Is a Sandplay Psychotherapy Process Completed?

Authors

  • KIM MARIE VAZ Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12926/fkqmxa78

Keywords:

Psychotherapy

Abstract

Many therapists find sandplay psychotherapy a useful adjunct to their play or talk therapies, but learning how to interpret even a single tray can be a daunting task. In this article, the author addresses the features of a completed sandplay process that unfolds over time and produces many separate sandtrays. From a survey of experienced sandplay therapists, the author found that most therapists characterize the sandplay healing process as a psychic journey into unknown inner realms, in which clients confront and contain their own chaos and conflict and touch a deep and numinous transpersonal aspect called the Self. The therapists consider the journey completed only when the images in the tray reflect a return to the collective or evidence of a more effective approach to life.

References

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Published

2026-01-23

Issue

Vol. 53 No. 2 (2000): Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, and Sociometry

Section

Articles

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