Boletim - Academia Paulista de Psicologia
Print version ISSN 1415-711X
Abstract
CHALFON, Mariana Simão Taliba and RAMOS, Denise Gimenez. Sandplay therapy with children with symptoms of Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder. Bol. - Acad. Paul. Psicol. [online]. 2021, vol.41, n.101, pp.276-290. ISSN 1415-711X.
The study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of sandplay therapy in the treatment of children with symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder and/or conduct disorder. The intervention consisted of twelve weekly sessions of sandplay therapy. The Child Behavior Checklist 6-18 was used to assess symptoms before and after the intervention. Participants were 41 children of both genders, randomly divided into two groups. The control group remained on hold while the experimental group 1 underwent the intervention. After three months, control group participants who still met inclusion criteria formed the experimental group 2. Results were analyzed statistically, in order to compare control group and experimental group 1, as well as to evaluate the evolution of the total experimental group, which included experimental group 1 and 2. Results pointed to the effectivity of sandplay therapy in reducing symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. To identify the most frequent themes and their evolution over the therapy sessions, 432 scenes were analyzed. Aiming to understand the psychodynamics in a more comprehensive way, a few qualitative observations are presented.
Keywords : child psychotherapy; conduct disorder; oppositional defiant disorder; sandplay.