Introduction
There are several comprehensive historical reviews of family play therapy (Sori and Gil 2015; Miller 1994) that document consistent efforts to promote an integration of play and family therapy approaches. Several family therapists (Zilbach 1986, 1995; Keith and Whitaker 1981; Irwin and Malloy 1975) and play therapists (Gil 1994, 2015; Schaefer and Carey 1994; Sori and Sprenkle 2004) have highlighted family play therapy with minimal impact. Although both groups maintain a passing interest in integration, neither group has made a wholehearted or spirited embrace of the other and some have speculated as to myriad reasons for this (Green 1994).
In spite of an apparent hesitancy from both camps, the authors believe that a play therapy approach can be easily and successfully integrated with a systemic/contextual framework. Family therapists value the participation of all family members and prioritize interventions that are inclusive, denying the singular role of an “identified...
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Gil, E., Crenshaw, D.A. (2019). Play in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_546
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