How to Use Play Therapy to Address Alexithymia with Traumatized Children and Teens

Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

Have you heard of a condition called alexithymia?
Probably not because most mental health professionals are not familiar with this term.
I wasn’t until I came across the term while looking at research about trauma.
What does alexithymia have to do with trauma and working with children and teens in play therapy?
That’s an excellent question!
Alexithymia is a condition that can be found in people with depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, and autism.
Have you ever had a client in sessions who repeatedly could not identify their emotions no matter how much therapeutic rapport and safety you created in sessions?
It’s possible they may have alexithymia - inability to identify their emotions and experiencing their emotions.
A group of researchers uncovered a connection between adults with alexithymia and childhood emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect.
As child and adolescent mental health professionals and play therapists imagine the benefit to children who have experienced neglect if they were able to receive early intervention using strategies that addressed possible alexithymia.
That’s a game changer in my mind!
I’ll discuss the finding of this research and how we can incorporate this groundbreaking information into play therapy when working with traumatized children and teens.

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I work with individuals and agencies to develop successful strategies and meet the treatment needs of your child and adolescent clients and their families using play therapy & expressive arts.
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Fejezetek

1. How to Use Play Therapy to Address Alexithymia with Traumatized Children and Teens (00:00:00)

2. Intro (00:00:01)

3. Today's topic (00:00:45)

4. Where to find my weekly live stream (00:02:02)

5. What is Alexithymia (00:03:24)

6. Why you need to be aware of this condition (00:05:33)

7. What the research say about Alexithymia (00:08:33)

8. Looking at Alexithyimia using Attachment and Neuroscience lens (00:13:18)

9. How can Play Therapy help with Alexithymia (00:19:23)

10. Recap of today's discussion (00:24:41)

11. Resources (00:29:09)

12. Outro (00:33:10)