ABSTRACT
In the interest of exploring “normal” and pathological behavior, the field of psychology has gone through many changes in the conceptualization of developmental functioning throughout the life span. Until fairly recently, psychological theorists had a limited understanding of the usefulness and applicability of play and the methods by which play could be used in therapy. Although interest in play began during the 1920s, the significance of the potential power of play as a change agent in treatment was underestimated and not fully examined for decades. Even within the various theories of personality development, scholars discussed the issue of play only in relation to a small fraction of human behavior.
