Studied the process of child psychotherapy by means of analyses of client verbal behaviors. Audio‐video recordings were made of nine intermittent psychotherapy sessions with 2 child clients, aged 8 and 12. A randomized mastertape of 4‐minute segments was rated for self‐exploration by means of the Carkhuff scale. Transcripts were categorized by means of an extended Snyder system and a preliminary set of grammatical variables. Transcripts then were minutized, and all client variables were intercorrelated and factoranalyzed. According to the research expectations, a high level of interrater reliability for the Carkhuff scale and high levels of interjudge agreement for the extended Snyder system were found. Analyses of the client variables demonstrated the nature of each client's verbal responding as well as their pattern of change across successive therapy sessions. The overall verbal response behavior of each client was summarized best through the factor analyses. Communalities and individual differences between the clients were discussed. Future directions for the study of client variables in child psychotherapy process research were suggested.
Although there is a realization in Western society today that childhood is changing, the topic remains clouded in confusion and contradictory viewpoints. The central question, if and how the nature of childhood itself has changed, has led the author to conduct a metabletic inquiry. Metabletics or the science of change is a human science research approach that incorporates phenomenological methods and seeks to understand a phenomenon by taking its historical development, its social cultural context and relevant synchronistic developments into account. In exploring the changing nature of childhood, historical, metabletic, and phenomenological studies were consulted as well as some selected sources from literature, art, and entertainment that portray the lives of children and, in particular, of boys in the past and in the present. First, a brief historical perspective on the changing nature of childhood from traditional to modern times is presented. This is followed by the concept of modern childhood and its transition to a postmodern childhood. The author aims to describe the essential characteristics of childhood with a focus on boyhood as lived in different historical time periods in order to contribute to a clearer understanding of its changing nature. The present study is exploratory and opens a vast domain that awaits further detailed investigations.
Metabletics was first introduced by J.H. Van den Berg as a systematic study of the changing nature of human existence. It gives special focus to phenomena within their specific historical and social-cultural contexts, and inside a complex matrix of relationships. Metabletics provide a uniquely interdisciplinary approach through the analysis of simultaneous events to identify patterns in human experience. Most central to the metabletic method is that, while the world of science is constant, the landscape of human existence is continually changing and causing humans to change. This article outlines the central principles and applications of the metabletic method and addresses tensions and possible challenges within the approach.
In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the use of imaginative play in child psychotherapy, yet the theoretical conceptualization of the meaning of play is lacking behind its application in practice. In search of a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of imaginative play, the author turns to Merleau-Ponty's ontology and to his phenomenology of structure, of the lived body, of perception, and of expression. In light of his work, play is an embodied mode of being in the world and a body-world phenomenon. Imaginative play in particular exemplifies the human order in that it enables the child to create and re-create his own meanings within his play world. In a therapeutic context, the evocation of play imagery and the expressive shaping and reshaping of play meanings lead to surprising insights and new discoveries relevant to the child's life-world. A central therapeutic value of imaginative play lies in its promise for facilitating change and healing. A clinical case illustration of a young boy is provided, and the meaning of his imaginative play is exemplified in light of Merleau-Ponty's thought. Some implications are drawn for the theory of play in child psychotherapy.
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