Research Proposal: Puppetry and Therapy

Puppetry has a great impact on therapy in modern society. Puppets have become an easy way to communicate and express ideas and this is because puppets have both a personality and a design, making puppets a effective way to reach to an audience. In our modern era the art of puppetry has been introduced to therapeutic strategies/treatments. This type of therapy is known as play therapy. Puppets are easy to create, they can be made out of anything, as long as it resembles something that can communicate it can be considered a puppet. The materials to create a puppet are simple and affordable. Puppets are also very affordable if store bought. Although puppetry and therapy are two abstract topics, there have been ways to incorporate puppetry into therapy in adequate and influential ways. What are the effects of puppetry in play therapy?

One reason that puppets are effective is because of their design. Every puppet is an artwork with in itself, a puppet can be designed to reach a specific audience which in this case would be a patient. This is mainly effective with children because they tend to idolize many characters in the media and televisions and so, to see that there favorite character is communicating with them they may be inclined to interact and participate in the therapy. There may also be children who suffer from trauma, and the use of symbolization when creating their therapy puppet may provide alleviation. The puppet may also symbolize an important message or event in there life that provides relief. An intelligent therapist will design and use a puppet that will get their patients to open up to them, a puppet that will help the patient reach the goals and better their life.

Another way that puppets are effective in therapy is because of the personality they can be portraying. Apart from design puppets have the ability to express and communicate with others. Puppets are equipped with mouths and facial features allowing them to depict different emotions and express themselves verbally. There is a broad spectrum of personalities the creator can set to accommodate the child. The puppet seen as an externalization of the child’s inner life that becomes a storyteller. Most clients can be suitable for therapeutic puppetry. If the personality of the puppet is one that the patient trusts and listens to, the child can make a connection with the puppet and eventually progress in the therapy. Does puppetry really help reach out to those who are isolated emotionally and physically?  Does it give them a voice to talk to someone who can comfort and bring them out of their shell?

Many can always argue that puppetry is not effective because some children have a phobia of dolls and human like toys, pediphobia and automatonophobia. Having pediphobia and automationphobia means that the use of puppetry is not effective to that that have those phobias. In addition, people may also argue that puppetry only helps children from grades kindergarten through fifth grade (elementary school). In other words, others may believe that puppetry is not useful for those approaching high school..

The impact puppetry has had on child  therapy interests me because limited research has been done on the implementation of puppets in therapy or on the use of puppetry in art therapy.  Furthermore, I would love to know how puppetry was introduced to therapy. When was play therapy founded? What skills does puppetry help unlock? What age is appropriate for play therapy (using puppets)? What are the disadvantages to play therapy? Are there any restrictions or guidelines to follow when conducting play therapy? Last but not least, what effects does puppetry have therapy for children?

Puppetry in Child Therapy

Throughout the world, puppetry has been used for educational purposes, as well as for therapeutic purposes. Puppetry in therapy is known as play therapy. Play therapy is often used for individuals who need to enhance the development of certain skills. Puppetry in play therapy is when therapists create therapeutic puppets to enhance a child’s skills. What are the effects of puppetry in play therapy? For many years analysts have been trying to figure out the effectiveness of puppetry in play therapy treatments. Many have come to the conclusion that the use of puppets have influenced play therapy.

In  “A Therapeutic Education Programme for Diabetic Children: Recreational, Creative Methods, and Use of Puppets.” by Pélicand, et al, Pélicand discusses the outcome of an experiment that was conducted. The experiment consisted of two groups of children, group A and group B. The studies indicated that the children in Group A, where puppets were used to help children express their feelings better, progressed the individual level of expression for every child. Meanwhile, children in Group B, where group discussions were held without the use of puppets, the level of expression of the children were quite scattered. In other words, every child had different outcomes.

Children that have gone through traumatizing situations usually need therapy to overcome the fear and impact of the occurrence.  “Children Use Art, Puppetry To Express Themselves” by Bruce Compton speaks about an organization that helped kids in the Middle East. Compton begins off by expressing all the shocking things kids everywhere throughout the world experience, explicitly, in the Middle East. He included two films which gave an idea of what life was life for those who had encountered traumatizing events while living in the Middle East. The films were imaginary but were quite similar to the lifestyle and culture in which the children live (Compton 86). The kids even used their own creativity to make a puppet based off of their interpretations of the films (Compton 87).The kids used puppets to express their feelings and thoughts.

What age is appropriate for play therapy (using puppets)? The article  “COMBINING REALITY THERAPY AND PLAY THERAPY IN WORK WITH CHILDREN” by Davis, Eric, and Jennifer Pereira states that, one of the most pertinent issues to consider when working with children is the use of developmentally appropriate counseling approaches. Davis Pereira, Eric Pereira, and Jennifer Pereira conclude that play therapy techniques can be potentially powerful tools for counselors working with young clients. Along with other discoveries, many people believe that puppetry in therapy with adults is dysfunctional.  In other words they believe that play therapy that incorporates puppetry is more efficient and useful for young ones.

Since there are many branches of therapy, meaning there are different reasons why a child would attend therapy, the use of puppets differentiates. Some children attend therapy because they have trouble learning, walking, hearing, or even talking. Siciliano’s  “Speech-Language … Puppetry? Yes, Puppets Provide an Engaging Way to Teach Students about the Rules of Conversation and Grammar, Aid Articulation of Sounds, and Illustrate Language Concepts” is an article that speaks about how puppetry can help enhance a child’s speech skills and their ability to express themselves. Siciliano mentions the benefits of incorporating puppetry in play therapy. Siciliano also conveys that the puppets can have characteristics of a child and can be taught like the child. Doing such can make the child feel as if the puppet is going through everything with them. Siciliano states, “ Puppets can be engaging, effective tools to meet Speech- language objectives. By organizing stories around emotions, I’ve found that students can generate scenarios that bring personal feelings to life and support problem-solving. Your puppet friend can create a safe place for children to share, and the personal interaction helps them find a voice for self-expression” (Siciliano 42). In other words, puppets share moments with the child and provides an open door that leads to the ability to express their feelings.

Puppetry enhances many fundamental skills that anyone should acquire. What skills does puppetry help unlock? “ Using Puppets with Children in Narrative Therapy to Externalize the Problem” by Butler, Sue, et al, concludes that puppets are an effective tool for externalizing the problem in narrative therapy. Sue Butler, et al, all focus on trying to find a strategy in which a child can break out of their shell, and how to help a child deal with the situation they went through or, are going through. In other words, puppets assist children to unleash their skill of problem solving. Butler provides a case example of an eight year old boy named Eric. Butler stated that the boy was recommended to see a therapist due to the fact that he almost always got into fights with classmates (Butler 229). Eric concludes that the negative feeling that was causing him to act the way he would at school was annoyance in his life. “Through the use of the puppet, the annoyance became a thing, an entity—in effect, an objectification of the problem—which, in turn, enacted the externalizing process” (Butler 230). This conveys that the use of the puppet was able to dissipate Eric’s anger. In this case puppetry in child therapy was successful.

Are there any restrictions or guidelines to follow when conducting play therapy? Well, in  “Facilitating Children’s Views of Therapy: An Analysis of the Use of Play-Based Techniques to Evaluate Clinical Practice” by Jessica Jäger, Jäger identifies the guidelines s play therapist must follow. There are three play-based evaluations methods, the ‘Expert Show’ , ‘Miniature Playroom’ and the ‘Puppet Interview.’  The ‘Expert Show’ ( a role playing technique ) is an adaptation of a directive play- therapy technique. The ‘Miniature Play Room’ ( a projective narrative technique ) is when the child is provided with Mobil figures with which to choose a child protagonist and adult figures to represent the play therapist, etc. The overall purpose of the study is threefold: to record the children’s views of play therapy; to explore the use of play/based evaluations as new methods to gain children’s views; and to explore therapeutic interactions observed during play/based evaluations from an attachment perspective.

However, many people will always view puppetry in therapy as unnecessary and incompetent. They say this because they believe that puppetry becomes useless and boring after a while. Children have short attention spans, so how does puppetry have a long term effect on children? Those are all questions parents that look into play therapy take into consideration. Some people may also think about how some kids have a phobia of dolls and human like like toys. What would the therapist do then?

Based on the research conducted,  puppetry provides a new and versatile way to reach and help children. Out of the many ways a therapist can get a child to break out of their shell, like writing, drawing, creating music, etc, puppetry is able to to do more than just those things. Puppetry, when used the proper way, can be exactly what a child needs to open up and express themselves, the character and appearance of the puppet can be exactly who the child will open up to. For example in  Butler’s “ Using Puppets with Children in Narrative Therapy to Externalize the Problem” Eric’s situation could have gotten way worse, however, going to play therapy (that involved puppets) allowed him to open up about why his actions were so violent (Butler 230). In addition, “Speech-Language … Puppetry? Yes, Puppets Provide an Engaging Way to Teach Students about the Rules of Conversation and Grammar, Aid Articulation of Sounds, and Illustrate Language Concepts” by Linda Siciliano also comes to the conclusion that puppetry in child therapy is effective in their life, since, the child learns to deal with the situation they are going through while in the therapeutic setting. Siciliano states, “ I’ve found that students can generate scenarios that bring personal feelings to life and support problem-solving” (ibid). This demonstrates that one of the many effects of puppetry in child therapy is that the child is able to enhance their skills to solve problems. Over all, puppetry in child therapy has had its pros and cons. However, whether or not puppetry in child therapy is effective still remains unanswered due to the fact thta, every individual is entitled to to their own opinions and every child has different experiences with puppetry in their therapy.  

Annotated bibliography

Jäger, Jessica. “Facilitating Children’s Views of Therapy: An Analysis of the Use of Play-Based Techniques to Evaluate Clinical Practice.” Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, vol. 18, no. 3, 2013, pp. 411–428. SAGE journals, URL: https://journals-sagepub-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/doi/full/10.1177/1359104512455816#_i1. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

“Facilitating Children’s Views of Therapy: An Analysis of the Use of Play-Based Techniques to Evaluate Clinical Practice” by Jessica Jäger identifies the guidelines and restrictions play therapists should follow.

Pélicand, et al. “A Therapeutic Education Programme for Diabetic Children: Recreational, Creative Methods, and Use of Puppets.” Patient Education and Counseling, vol. 60, no. 2, 2006, p. 152–163. ScienceDirect, URL: https://www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S0738399104004124#aep-section-id28. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

Pelicand, et al, speak about an experiment that was conducted. The kids were separated into two groups, group A and group B. One group ( group A ) were using puppets in therapy. While, the other group ( group B ) did not have puppets in therapy. This purpose of the experiment was to determine whether or not puppetry had an effect of puppetry or not. Based on the outcome of the experiment, puppetry does have an effect on a child in a therapeutic place.

Compton, Bruce. “Children Use Art, Puppetry To Express Themselves.” Health Progress (Saint Louis, Mo.), vol. 97, no. 4, 2016, pp. 86–87. EBSCOhost, URL: https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=85202bca-1fdf-4b9e-b604-85e96dfd7e18%40sessionmgr102. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

Compton begins off by expressing all the shocking things kids everywhere throughout the world experience, explicitly, in the Middle East. He included two films which gave an idea of what life was life for those who had encountered traumatizing events while living in the Middle East. The kids used puppets to express how they felt.

Davis, Eric, and Jennifer Pereira. “COMBINING REALITY THERAPY AND PLAY THERAPY IN WORK WITH CHILDREN.” International Journal of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy, vol. 33, no. 1, 2013, p. 78–86. EBSCOhost, URL: https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=cbcf5d99-44e2-4887-9fb0-c9a09793d8e8%40sessionmgr101. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

“COMBINING REALITY THERAPY AND PLAY THERAPY IN WORK WITH CHILDREN” by Davis, Eric, and Jennifer Pereira states that, one of the most pertinent issues to consider when working with children is the use of developmentally appropriate counseling approaches. The authors conclude that play therapy techniques can be potentially powerful tools for counselors working with young clients.

Siciliano, Linda. “Speech-Language … Puppetry? Yes, Puppets Provide an Engaging Way to Teach Students about the Rules of Conversation and Grammar, Aid Articulation of Sounds, and Illustrate Language Concepts.” ASHA Leader, vol. 21, no. 6, 2016, p. 42. GALE, URL: http://go.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA454730432&v=2.1&u=cuny_ccny&it=r&p=HRCA&sw=w. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

Siciliano’s  “Speech-Language … Puppetry? Yes, Puppets Provide an Engaging Way to Teach Students about the Rules of Conversation and Grammar, Aid Articulation of Sounds, and Illustrate Language Concepts” is an article that speaks about  the benefits of incorporating puppetry in play therapy. Siciliano also shows examples of puppets that have been used for child purposes. For example, muppet type puppets.

Butler, Sue, et al. “Using Puppets with Children in Narrative Therapy to Externalize the Problem.” Journal of Mental Health Counseling, vol. 31, no. 3, 2009, pp. 225–233. EBSCOhost, URL: https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=a019fa4a-c229-488e-9a44-823cee4e1ff4%40sessionmgr4009&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=44087983&db=eue. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

“ Using Puppets with Children in Narrative Therapy to Externalize the Problem” by Butler, Sue, et al, concludes that puppets are an effective tool for externalizing the problem in narrative therapy. The article states that in some cases, however, it is not necessary or preferable to use puppets for this purpose. Butler, Sue, et al mention that older children, adolescents, and adult clients might also benefit from the use of objects to help express their problems. Children are routinely encouraged to objectify the problem in narrative therapy through various clinical processes, such as letter writing and naming the problem. The article also portrays that if counselors use the puppet properly, clients can be invited to select from an array of objects, personal or otherwise, to serve as tools to enhance the externalizing process.