'Found objects' to grow your sand tray collection

In a recent blog post, I mentioned no-cost and low-cost items for the sand tray and sand tray therapy. (In case you missed the article, read it here.)

Today we'll take a look more cool stuff: found objects that are definitely free. You can give yourself a pat on the back for recycling and re-purposing for your sand tray shelves.

I took a walk around my neighborhood the other day with a plastic bag and found some interesting objects to integrate into my sand tray collection:

• Pine cones of various sizes.
• Twigs of various sizes and shapes. One stayed as a "tree" and the others I broke into smaller pieces.
• An empty cigarette box.
• A glass labeled microscope slide of a mosquito head. (Yes!)
• A plastic Star Wars ring.
• A plastic frond with plastic "berries," a leftover Christmas decoration, which I will cut into smaller pieces and use as small trees or bushes.
• A plastic Puss In Boots toy.

It helps to carry a plastic sandwich bag to hold your finds before you wash or clean them. Be sure to clean with a bit of dish soap and water, as appropriate, or wipe lightly with a bleach wipe. If you have any doubts about the sanitary quality of an item, don't pick it up.

P.S. If you're the child who lost the Puss In Boots toy, contact me and I'll be happy to return it to you.

Psychodrama gets (+) mention in Psychotherapy Networker

 

The current issue of Psychotherapy Networker mentions psychodrama  for the good. In the current issue -- which celebrates the 30th year of the fabulous magazine -- a reprised article from 2007 looks at  "The Most Discredited Therapies."

The article contrasts therapies that have been considered discredited -- like prefrontal lobotomies, reparative therapies for homosexuality and others -- with therapies that are  deemed credible, like EMDR, humor therapy for depression, etc.

 

And about psychodrama: "Several older methods, including J.L.Moreno's psychodrama and Wilfred Bion's psychoanalytically oriented group analysis, also noted respectable ratings."  

In the article, psychologist John Norcross stresses that a discredited ranking of any treatment should primarily be construed as a call for more research, not as a condemnation, that experts "can and have been wrong," and that therapists shouldn't be afraid to be innovative and trust their intuition. Nevertheless, he says, the study has generated considerable controversy, including protests from many psychotherapists who pointed out that they themselves have successfully used some of the most "discredited" treatments like the Luscher Color Test for personality assessment.

Here's the article.