Introduction

Sandplay therapy is a therapeutic method developed to provide a means of helping children with mental suffering. The Sandplay therapist encourages the client to make whatever he or she wants in the tray, and sits quietly by as a witness to the work. The Sandplay method allows the client to go beyond the limits of his or her state of consciousness, creating a space for the unconscious to guide and facilitate the healing and development of the psyche. Sandplay is based on the personality theory of Carl G. Jung, renowned Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, who lived and practiced outside Zurich in a small suburb known as Kusnacht, on Lake Zurich. Jung's work emphasized the non-rational, image-based content that flows from the unconscious. This chapter explores child brain development and explores why an image-based approach to psychotherapy is so important. Jean Piaget's early findings are borne out by contemporary neurological research in child brain development.