How can something as simple as rolling dice or moving pieces across a board be of therapeutic value?
Historically, most board games have been minimised due to their structure and rule-based nature, yet many can encourage creative thinking and imagination.
Over the past twenty years, the therapeutic value of boards games has been more widely accepted. Throughout the 1970s, therapists increasingly turned to card and board games as tools in therapy sessions, observing significant improvements in client communication (Beiser, 1979). In the 1980s, the importance of board games in therapy continued to grow, becoming part of the creative toolkit due to their ability to facilitate emotional expression, problem-solving, and social interaction. Oaklander (1978) writes about the use of games in the play therapy room, stating that they can come in many forms and have multiple uses.
Board games can reflect key developmental issues that the child is struggling with, such as autonomy, power, control, and relationships. The child’s approach to the game and how they handle competition, cooperation, rule-following may symbolise their broader developmental stage and emotional needs. Furthermore, the therapist can observe how the child handles
different emotional and social situations, gaining insights into their internal world. Examples include:
Handling Frustration: How a child reacts to losing, setbacks, or making mistakes during the game potentially showing how they manage frustration, disappointment, or perceived failure in other areas of their life.
Interpersonal Dynamics: The way the child interacts with the therapist during the game can mirror real-life social relationships.
Those designed for therapeutic purposes may provide creative autonomy for the child to communicate a plethora of emotions which may be safer to express rather than directly discussing them.
Although board games can offer a rich array of developmental benefits for children, Oaklander (1978) emphasises that the use of games in therapy hinges on the strength of the therapeutic relationship and the client’s ongoing developmental process, with importance on the non-judgmental bond between client and therapist (Axline, 1947).
From a child centred perspective, board games offer a playful, non-directive way for the child to lead and decide how to engage as they can choose the rules and how the game proceeds.
Through a psychodynamic lens, counters/objects/dice can be used as projection tools (Freud, 1992) to reveal the child’s internal thoughts, emotions, or conflicts onto the board and into the game elements, thus allowing their unconscious to be played out (Adler, 1964).
In terms of the therapeutic relationship board games provide a natural way to build rapport and trust. Whether the child is experiencing joy from winning or mastering frustration from losing, board games offer a strong sense of accomplishment.
Living in an increasingly digital world, the beauty of board games lies in their emphasis on face-to-face interaction. They encourage conversations, cooperation, and even friendly competition, creating a sense of presence and bonding that screens can’t replicate. From a neurobiology perspective, ‘playing traditional board games has been shown to be related to a neural reorganization of brain areas associated with attentional control, working memory, and problem solving’ (Martinez, Gimenes & Lambert, 2023).
Board games are a timeless form of entertainment that offers both intellectual stimulation and emotional depth, making them an enduring and valuable part of human culture. Whether the child is experiencing joy or frustration games allow safe expression serving as a conduit to process complex unresolved emotions and greater insight into their internal world.
Authors: Karen O’Neill & Tara McDonald
Published and Copyrighted by PIP Solutions: 1st October 2024
Reference List
Adler, A. (1964). Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. Vancouver: Harper Collins
Axline, V. (1947). Play Therapy. Ballantine Books: New York
Beiser, H.R. (1979). Formal games in diagnosis and therapy. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 18: pp. 480-491
Freud, A. (1992) The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence. London: Karnac Books
Martinez, L., Gimenes, M., & Lambert, E. (2023). Video games and board games: Effects of playing practice on cognition. PLoS ONE, 18(3), Article e0283654. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283654
Oaklander, V. (1978). Windows to Our Children: A Gestalt Therapy Approach to Children and Adolescents. Highland, NY: The Gestalt Journal Press
Love this Karen & Tara.