Basic Research on Ten Years’ Sandplay Therapy in China

ZHAO Yue-yue LU Zhi-bo

【Abstract】Sandplay therapy research has been further developed and remarkable achievements have been made in the recent ten years in our country. Basic research focus on the character analysis of different people groups when it is the first sandplay by the player. Diagnostic group characteristics can be deduced from how they use sand toys and space as well as different theme presentations.

【Key words】sandplay therapy； the initial sandplay features； Basic research

1. Introduction

In the past ten years， sandplay therapy（or sandtray） has achieved further development in both research and application. Based on the combination Jung analytical psychology and Chinese culture as well as psychological analysis， this therapy centers on empathy and induction， which makes use of the prototype and symbolic role of sand to develop psychology analysis and treatment at the same time （Shen He-yong ， 2005） . The process is mainly for peoples self-expression by using sand toys in the sand （Zhang Ri-sheng， 2006） .

Jung proposed collective unconscious， which emphasized to use prototypes， mythology， mental imagery to represent the spirit genetic parts in the deep down of peoples heart in the process of human evolution. After deeply studying the theories mentioned above， Kalff first put forward “ sandplay games”， which is a combination of both theories.

In recent years， the improvement of basic research in sandplay therapy has become a trend. In which， kinds of special groups initially presents different psychological characteristics on a sand table. And target group can be divided by their initial characteristics so as to reflect diagnostic significance of sandplay therapy.

2. Usage characteristics of sand toys and space of different groups

Different groups have different choices on different types of sand toys.Compare to the normal group of people， patients with somatization lie in smaller amount of toys usage and so do patients with positive psychological symptoms， patients with depressive symptoms， patients with obsessive compulsive symptoms and community inmates. （Tan Jian-feng， 2010； Tan Jian-feng， 2012； Niu Juan， 2015）. So it can be inferred that the special groups mentioned above tend to pour more mental energy into their inner activities or strggules not real life based on their less usage of sand toys.

Comparing with control group， people with depression and community inmates tend to use less sand toys with natural elements， such as animals and figures. （Tan Jian-feng， 2012； Niu Juan， 2015）. People with positive psychological symptoms and college students with anxiety and hostile symptoms use less sand toys of figures and plants than control group. （Tan Jian-feng， 2012； Tan Jian-feng， 2013； Tan Jian-feng， 2014） People with somatization and obsessive compulsive symptoms use less sand toys of plant. （Tan Jian-feng， 2012） And so do adults with stutter. （Li Xiao-ying， 2012） Usage rate of sand toys of animals， figures and constructions are significantly higher for the bereavement group in the earthquake. So these three types of sand toys are with great meaning for them. （Chen Can-rui， 2009）

Besides， less usage of construction sand toys is represented by people with somatization. （Tan Jian-feng， 2012） At the same time， less usage of daily essential sand toys， such as transportation， is obviously seen in people who are with positive psychological symptoms， obsessive compulsive symptoms and depressive symptoms， and college students with anxiety and hostile symptoms， adults with stutter as well as community inmates. （Tan Jian-feng， 2012； Tan Jian-feng， 2013； Tan Jian-feng， 2014， Li Xiao-ying， 2012， Niu Juan， 2015） As housing， transportation and other social environmental factors in sandplay are the reflections of patients shelter， security and belonging in real society，so that it can be inferred that different special groups may be influenced by belonging and security in society.

Research shows that highly aggressive adolescents in sand production use lots of aggressive sand toys， such as toys of religion and weapon， and they constructing aggressive atmosphere and scene. （Zhang Ri-sheng， 2009）Also people with obsessive compulsive symptoms， community inmates and adults with stutter tend to use more weapons and show lower harmony. （Tan Jian-feng， 2010， Li Xiao-ying， 2012， Niu Juan， 2015） Similar aggressive behaviors in sandplay occur in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and hostile college students who like to use shadow prototype. （Wang Qiao-min， 2010； Tan Jian-feng， 2014） These groups tend to give vent to the outside world but not the body， which are different from people groups with depressive symptoms and somatization.

3. Subject features presented by sandplay of different groups

Generally， sandplay can be divided into two themes， theme of trauma and theme of heal， which has each theme classification. Group with borderline personality disorder symptoms mainly manifests three items of trauma theme， which are splits， threats， and restrictions， while they reflect less on coupling， rebirth and communication themes than the control group. Besides， obvious split theme has diagnostic significance for group with borderline personality disorder symptoms. （Li Jiang- Xue， 2009） On college students with hostile symptoms， more trauma themes such as restriction， neglect and threat are reflected， and such cognivtive precessing is the reason to their aggressive personal communication model considered by researchers. （Tan Jian-feng， 2014） But in offensive youth group， aggressive theme is particularly prominent， which may be related their immature cognitive processing. Trauma themes such as war and accident are seen more on primary students with ADHD， and in the process of sand production， their destructive actions reflect their strong emotion. （Zhang Wen， 2013） Comparing with control group， four items of trauma theme are greatly higher and four items of heal theme are greatly lower showed in patients with depression. And among those performances， the appearance of neglect and threat themes and the lack of flow and energy themes have diagnostic significance for them. At the same time， in similar anxiety symptoms， neglect and threat themes also have diagnostic significance for the group. （Tan Jian-feng， 2013） While， in adults with stutter， threat， hinder， attack and hurt themes are also prominent and “confusion” is considered to have diagnostic significance by researchers. （Li Xiao-Ying， 2012） Six theme items such as empty， split， neglect， hurt， threat and inversion are seen more in people with OCD than the control group， while items of flow， tend and energy are obviously missing. Most community inmates present empty， split， hinder and other seven items of trauma theme， and looking back into their experiences， most of them experienced negative events in their earlier time. Niu Juan （2015） pointed out that even after the parole， the group is still with implicit aggression. Group of positive psychological symptoms and somatization show consistency on confusion， empty and other eight items of trauma theme. While on the lack of heal themes， integration， flow and energy of heal themes cannot be found in group with somatization， and moreover， Group of positive psychological symptoms build less on in-depth and tend themes than control group，（Tan Jian-feng， 2010； Tan Jian-feng， 2012） This may be due to the comprehensiveness of psychological symptoms is relatively broader than that of somatization， so the diagnostic meaning is not obvious. Bereavement groups in earthquake mainly embodied in empty， split， threat and hidden themes. In addition to this， boys express more threat and hurt than girls， while girls express more neglect and inversion， which are the reflection of their inner instability and insecurity（Chen Can-rui，2009）.

4. Discussion

The above researches direct our ways of sandplay research， and provide an important reference for studying psychological traits of special people group， which all make our further research more targeted. Some foreign studies show that people with psychological problems repeat the same theme on sand table. Sometimes sand table is the reproduction of a dream， in which traumatic events will reappear without conscious control.（Karrie，2013） This repeated presentation is always related with major events in life or traumatic experiences， which presents current status of patients problems and resources in environment. At last， by comparing with control group， based on the usage of sand toys， space and topic presentation， sandplay can provide diagnostic basis.

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