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Article #1 Summary: To summarize, play therapy is an evidence based therapy that has been proven to help children regulate their emotions and communicate their experiences. Play therapy uses the natural use of play successfully because children who have experienced trauma are less likely to perceive a space as safe due to their hyperarousal of threat detection. This form of therapy allows children to be comfortable enough to engage with therapists. The article included a case study of a three year old foster child named Juaquin. His initial play consisted of violent and intense play behavior toward his therapist and over a two and a half year period of time in play therapy, it developed to more developmentally appropriate, imaginary, and creative play where he saw his therapist as an ally.

Article #2:

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Article #2 Summary: This article discussed children who have survived natural disasters and how their experiences in this type of trauma lead to psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression. The article mentioned that children are an exceptionally vulnerable group because they are in a critical period of brain and body development as well as having a limitation on being able to meet all their own needs, making surviving natural disasters extremely traumatic. It is difficult for children to cope because the trauma exceeds their ability to manage their reactions. Children who have experienced a natural disaster can experience flashbacks and fear. They may also experience guild or blame themselves for the event that was totally out of their control. They may worry about their family and friends to a level that is not healthy and they may also develop physical symptoms like headaches, stomachaches, etc. after surviving the disaster. The article described play therapy as an effective way to help children cope with their trauma and that it is crucial in the well being of children. The article discussed types of play therapy to include: directive, non-directive, cognitive behavioral, as well as family play therapies.

Article #3:

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Article #3 Summary: This article discusses how play therapy can promote self-expression that can lead to healing. This article about play therapy specifically discussed sexual abuse trauma. The case study described that the therapists first discussed the treatment, then parents were involved, and finally the therapy began with the therapist letting child know the reason that they were in the therapy session. The case study involved two elementary aged boys who were "stuck" in their current non-play-based therapy and began play therapy instead. One boy was sexually abused by a former nanny and was experiencing feelings of sadness, shame, irritability, and guilt. The second boy was sexually abused by another boy at a sleepover and therefore experienced lack of pleasure, sadness, and had a generally negative affect. After play therapy was initiated and they created their "superheroes," each of the two boys exhibited a renewed sense of purpose and energy during and after participating.

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Article #1 Summary: This article began by explaining that many therapies for children in trauma have been adult therapies that have been adapted to meet the needs of children. The article discussed exposure techniques such as flooding and gradual exposure, that are effective in treating children and adolescents exposed to a variety of traumatic experiences. The article also mentioned that cognitive interventions are effective in decreasing anxiety and depression in children. The history of cognitive processing therapy was given in the article and its process described to include cognitive coping. Other techniques were described to include: stress management, muscle relaxation, breathing techniques, thought stopping, and thought replacement as beneficial in helping children in trauma situations.

Article #2

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Article #2 Summary: This article discussed how trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy was used to treat children who have parents who are incarcerated. Children with parents who are incarcerated are more likely to develop PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) symptoms, depression, anger, aggression, isolation, and self-harming behaviors. The article mentioned a sharp rise in adult incarceration in the US, the rise being 500% in the last 40 years. This increase in incarcerations has led to traumatic effects of children whose parents are not in their day-to-day lives. The emotional effects for children of parental incarceration include isolating themselves from peers and family members, anxiety, struggling to form healthy relationships, sleep problems, aggression, concentration problems, feelings of shame, and even substance use and abuse. Not only do these children suffer from emotional trauma, they also experience material insecurity due to lack of parental income. The article describes the effectiveness of trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy for children in this circumstance. The case study in the article described a 9 year old girl whose mother was incarcerated for attacking the girl's father in self-defense during an attack. There were phases of their therapy sessions to include: stabilization, trauma narrative, and integration. These phases led to positive outcomes for the daughter and her mother. The article also discussed possible limitations of this type of therapy.

Article #3

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Article #3 Summary: This article discussed trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in children as opposed to other treatment types. The article mentioned that unfortunately 2/3 of children report having had a traumatic event in their life. These traumatic events lead children to have post-traumatic stress disorder and if left untreated can lead to a future of mental health problems into adulthood. Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy is noted to be highly effective in this article, but not used as often as it could be in clinical situations according the the author. Participants in the study described in this article included 1,861 children ages 3-17. The outcome of the study was definitive in that providing TF-CBT to children with PTSD in community settings can result in greater improvements than usual care treatments provided in outpatient settings.

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Article #1 Summary: In summary, this article described a case study of a five year-old boy who suffered a complex trauma who was helped by EMDR therapy. The article begins by explaining that EMDR therapy is effective and can be an asset to school counseling, but there is currently a lack of counselors who are trained in EMDR in the school setting. A definition of EMDR is clearly stated: EMDR therapy is an eight-step phase protocol that uses bilateral stimulation to heal the mind of emotional pain caused by psychological trauma. The therapist applies eye movements or other bilateral sensory stimulation such as tapping while the client simultaneously accesses the stored traumatic memory through images, sensations, cognition and affect. A benefit to this therapy is described that the client can use this therapy effectively without having to discuss the trauma in detail. This can be very comforting to children. The boy, Peter and his mother, in this article's case study had recently escaped from being trafficked. Peter was witness to the sexual violence that his mother suffered and was separated from her for several periods of time. School teachers noticed that Peter was exhibiting violent behavior at school and showed difficulty forming friendships. After going through the 8 phases of EMDR, Peter's behavior at school and home improved significantly and his he no longer experienced night terrors that had previously plagued him. After reading this article, I would like to see more counselors become trained in EMDR including myself.

Article #2

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Article #2 Summary: This article described how children who have suffered abuse and neglect can benefit from EMDR therapy. With this therapy, children can process their traumas. Fifteen children between the ages of 4 and 12 years of age were included in the case study discussed in this article. The majority of the children in the study benefitted from EMDR therapy. The EMDR therapy helped them with attachment problems, behavioral difficulties, and emotional control difficulties. Like the prior article, phases of the EMDR process were described to include: preparation phase and desensitization and reprocessing phase. A child who did not have positive outcomes from the trial had a unique background having come from an orphanage. The article concluded that EMDR is an effective treatment for not only adults in trauma, but children as well.

Article #3

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Article #3 Summary: This article discussed how EMDR therapy was used to provide support and emotional benefits for children in Iran who have suffered abuse. The article notes that emotional abuse in children can lead to suicidal ideations and EMDR can help and that child abuse and maltreatment is a global public health concern. The article described the start/history of EMDR. Thirty female participants were included in the case study. The first finding suggested that during EMDR therapy, when the processing of a damaging memory is performed along with a set of eye movements, intrusive thoughts irrelevant to the task are considered and processed. The second finding showed that EMDR therapy had a significant effect on reducing suicidal ideation in female victims of child abuse. I would like to dig more into the phases of EMDR and watch it in a therapeutic setting.

Article #1

Conroy, J., & Perryman, K. (2022). Treating trauma with child-centered play therapy through the SECURE lens of polyvagal theory. International Journal of Play Therapy, 31(3), 143–152. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000172

Play Therapy

Article #2

Dalkılınç, G., Okumuş, S., & Güloğlu, B. (2025). Play therapy for children exposed to natural disasters. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 17(1), 47–60. https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.1431472

Play Therapy

Article #3

Stauffer, S. D. (2021). Overcoming trauma stuckness in play therapy: A superhero intervention to the rescue. International Journal of Play Therapy, 30(1), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000149

Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Article #1

Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., Berliner, L., & Deblinger, E. (2000). Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for children and adolescents: An empirical update. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 15(11), 1202–1223. https://doi.org/10.1177/088626000015011007

Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Article #2

Morgan-Mullane, A. (2018). Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy with children of incarcerated parents. Clinical Social Work Journal, 46(3), 200–209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-017-0642-5

Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Article #3

Lee, P., & Lang, J. M. (2024). Comparing trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy to commonly used treatments in usual care for children with posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 16(Suppl 3), S464–S471. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001555

EMDR

Article #1

Rolli, N. J. (2023). Integrating EMDR standard treatment protocol into child psychotherapy at a primary school with a 5‐year‐old boy who suffered complex trauma: A single case study. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 39(4), 714–731. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjp.12861

EMDR

Article #2

van der Hoeven, M. L., Plukaard, S. C., Schlattmann, N. E. F., Lindauer, R. J. L., & Hein, I. M. (2023). An integrative treatment model of EMDR and family therapy for children with severe symptomatology after child abuse and neglect: A SCED study. Children and Youth Services Review, 152, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107064

EMDR

Article #3

Jamshidi, F., Rajabi, S., & Dehghani, Y. (2021). How to heal their psychological wounds? Effectiveness of EMDR therapy on post‐traumatic stress symptoms, mind‐wandering and suicidal ideation in Iranian child abuse victims. Counselling & Psychotherapy Research, 21(2), 412–421. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12339