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KMID : 1094520080110030081
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Korean Journal of Play Therapy
2008 Volume.11 No. 3 p.81 ~ p.98
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A Case Study of Sandplay Therapy for a Middle-aged Woman Distressed by Husband and Children
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Chang Hyun-Sook
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Abstract
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This study presents a case of sandplay therapy for a middle-aged woman who has severly struggled with her husband and four children. Her biological mother died after one year of her birth and she was fostered by her mother’s sister who had divorced. As a catholic and a preschool teacher, she feels guilty about her insufficient role in rearing four children, and couldn’t handle with anger and complains about her husband and her sons, in particular. It seems that this middle-aged crisis arrived because of her weak ego which originated from poor childhood. Indeed, she could not have a chance to form animus since she was surrounded by females including her divorced foster mother. Lack of caring and unbalanced life experience caused the unbearable burden for a woman of middle age. A total of 17 sessions of sandplay therapy serve a powerful opportunity for the client to look into her unconscious and to reveal her inner feelings. Based on trust toward the therapist, the client has expressed her conflicts, suppressed desire, and negative feelings, and finally experienced healing in a series of sandplay. Consequently, she finds her real self and gets enormous energy enough to show understanding and endearment of her husband and children. This study indicates that a middle-aged woman’s ego can be strengthened through sandplay therapy despite a childhood trauma and lack of opportunity for animus. Also, this case study shows that sandplay therapy can serve as an agent for accelerating individuation(or self-realization), suggesting spirituality added to body-mind dimension of therapy.
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KEYWORD
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sandplay therapy, middle-age, depression, individuation, spirituality
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Listed journal information
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