ABSTRACT
When using Seriously Therapeutic Play and playing with LEGO®, we ask participants not to think and to simply allow their hands to choose the bricks they need (if you have ever done a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop, you might have heard the phrase “don’t have a meeting with yourself!”). Participants and clients are almost always successful with this instruction; yet how do your hands know you need that transparent, blue 2x2 brick to effectively express your metaphor? (Of course, we are not so naive as to believe that it is, indeed, your hands that are thinking!) This chapter explores the psychological factors at play in STP that allow individuals to invest fully in the method as well as to benefit therapeutically. We begin with a broad understanding of play, move to a narrower definition of play therapy, then discuss the relevant psychological factors in STP, such as the development of psychological safety through experiential methods, the experience of flow, the advantage of the common third, and therapeutic presence.
