ABSTRACT
Researchers suggest that the most important aspect of effective therapy, regardless of the approach or modality, is the therapist’s empathetic nature and the connection between patient and therapist. Puppets enhance this connection. The reason that puppet-assisted play therapy can effectively reach troubled children and their families when other methods cannot has its basis in established neurobiology research. Puppetry’s positive neurobiological effects come from its impact on the whole brain. Recent researchers have supported the theory that good mental health results from a harmonious integration of all brain areas: right brain, left brain, upper brain, and lower brain. The upper brain develops in early life and continues to develop actively into early adulthood. Planning, thinking, and imagining are the complex processes of the higher brain.
