For children, therapy can be a scary thing. Seeing a therapist can be difficult for adults, as it requires trusting a new person and often involves disclosing the most intimate details of one's life. Imagine, then, how difficult it must be for children to adjust to counseling. It is necessary to create a comfortable environment so that they can feel safe and able to open up. In this research article, I will explore the effectiveness of play therapy in history and in many cases, from its first mention in a publication in the seventies until today, when it is the focus of a major psychological association (APT), and is practiced with enormous success by child psychologists around the world. According to Eliana Gil, Freud appears to be the first to incorporate play therapy into his sessions as early as 1909. Twenty years later, Anna Freud and Melanie Klein explained this practice with theory regarding the psychoanalytic components of play therapy and its uses, including establishing a relationship between patient and therapist and replacing the verbalization of desires (Gil 28). Play was considered highly symbolic of innermost desires, and Klein saw play therapy as having the potential to fully equate the methods with the technique of free association in adults (Gil 28). After these theories there was a period marked by the introduction of more structured therapy, with the therapist directing the focus of each session towards a solution. The cathartic effects of play therapy were still recognized, paving the way for theories that suggested that repressed emotions due to traumatic experience could be released through play. In 1955, Hambridge hypothesized that the child could directly recreate the events of the traumatic experience in play to assist with the release of...... middle of paper ......nseling and Student Services.Lipchik, E. ( 1988). Interview with a constructive ear. Dulwich Center Newsletter, Winter, 3-7.Ray, D., Bratton, S., Rhine, T., & Jones, L. (2001). The effectiveness of play therapy: Answering the critics. International Journal of Play Therapy, 10(1), p. 85-108. Selekman, M. D. (1997). Solution-focused therapy with children. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Springer, J. F., Phillips, J., Phillips, L., Cannady, L., & Kerst-Harris, E. (1992). CODA: Creative therapy program for children from families affected by alcohol or other drug abuse. Journal of Community Psychology, p. 55-74. Ray, D., Bratton, S., Rhine, T., & Jones, L. (2005). The effectiveness of play therapy with children: A meta-analytic review of treatment outcomes. Professional Psychology, Research and Practice, 36(4), 376–390. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.36.4.376.