Filial therapy is a relatively recent application that uses play to help infants under the age of 3 as well as children up to the age of 14, in their mental and emotional development which for some reason, such as attachment issues, may be impaired.
Filial therapy also directly involves parent(s) and carer(s). One approach is to provide parents/carers with basic therapeutic play skills, however there are ethical issues to be considered. Another approach is to train parents/carers in nurturing skills and how to play non-directively with their children..
The social objective is to prevent unfavourable infant experiences taking root to become deeper seated psychological problems.
