Sandplay Therapy with Traumatic Brain Injured Adults: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

Lorraine Razzi Freedle, PhD, CST-T

Abstract

The phenomenological experiences of four adults with moderate to severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) were studied using sandplay therapy in a collective case study qualitative design. Participants ranged in age from 22 to 36, completed 12 to 18 sandtrays in an outpatient neurorehabilitation center. Results indicated that the participants expressed themselves through sandplay in ways previously unavailable to them verbally. The contents of psychotherapy for all of the participants centered on their TBI experiences and its devastating impact on their lives, as well as their quest for deeper psychological experiences. A “Sandplay Sensory Feedback Loop” was developed from observations of the participant’s sandplays to describe how they progressed. Implications for using multisensory forms of psychotherapy with persons with TBI, and for applying similar research designs in future studies of sandplay and the individuation process are discussed.

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