Clinical Social W o r k J o u r n a l

Vol. 22, No. 2, S u m m e r 1994

A N A B U S E D CHILD'S U S E OF S A N D P L A Y IN THE
HEALING PROCESS

Geri A. Grubbs, Ph.D., LCSW

ABSTRACT: In 1939, Margaret Lowenfeld, a child psychiatrist in London,

created a therapeutic medium with which children could freely communicate
and express themselves. Through the influence of Jungian, Dora Kalff, and the
Jungian theories she applied to it, this new technique spread throughout the
United States, Europe, and Japan. Termed "Sandplay" by Kalff, it is recognized
as a highly effective and creative modality used mostly in child therapy, but also
in Jungian analysis with adults. As a sandplay therapist who specializes in sexual abuse treatment, I have experienced the healing power of sandplay in the
treatment of traumatized children, especially those who were sexually abused.
The focus of this article is on the inner world expression and process of a boy I
call Adam, who was a participant in my doctoral dissertation study on sandplay
with sexually abused children. The article describes Adam's twelve-tray sandplay process and the theories behind the assessments that I made, based on
Jnngian psychology, Kalffian sandplay theory, and previous research.

Sandplay is the playing out, or the making of, an emotional expression in a tray of either dry or wet sand measuring 281/2 inches by 191/2
inches by 2 to 4 inches deep. Many kinds of miniature figures are displayed on shelves that can be used in the creation or play, including
people and animals, items f r o m nature, houses, vehicles, and so forth.
The person making the sandpicture m a y choose whatever items are
available or m a y only mold and shape the sand if desired. There is no
right or wrong w a y for a person to do sandplay. Dora Kalff (1980)
stressed the concept that sandplay is a therapeutic medium in a "free
and protected space." It is a medium in which the individual has the
freedom to express himself in ways he or she desires, with no guidance
or intrusion from the therapist. The boundaries of the tray then provide
the containment for the full expression of whatever needs to be put
forth.
Sandplay is an expressive medium similar to a process known by
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Jungians as active imagination. Active imagination is an ego, or conscious process, of creatively fantasizing with the symbolic images that
evolve from the unconscious. These images are believed to represent a
reflection of an individual's psyche or life force. Through this process,
conscious and unconscious material are brought together. Active imagination is central to Jung's theory of individuation, the way toward psychic healing and wholeness, or of realizing one's innate potential. IndividuationnaturaUy occurs when one connects with those creative elements
of the unconscious. This natural healing process, termed the transcendent function, creates a transition from the old attitude or behavior to a
new one. Through it, conscious and unconscious become united, paving
the way for the resolution of conflicts and the uniting of split-off aspects
of the psyche (Neumann, 1971). Transformation of this nature occurs
most effectively during the creative process of imagery, drawing, painting, and sandplay.
The primary role of the sandplay therapist is to witness, in a nonintrusive, empathic, and accepting manner, whatever the client expresses. This allows for a synchronistic moment between the client and
therapist, the simultaneous recognition of the unconscious of the client,
expressed in the sand, by the conscious awareness of the therapist
(Kalff, 1980). This moment of realization is intensely healing to the
individual (Jung, 1954), particularly when deep woundings or spiritual
realizations are expressed. It is important to note t h a t play, by itself, is
the process that releases the inherent healing energy of the psyche. Outward interpretation and intrusiveness of the play by the therapist is not
essential and may even stop the process from becoming complete (Kalff,
1980).
The focus of san@lay assessment is on the whole of the process.
Operationally defined, a "sandplay process," is the making of a series of
sandpictures that extend over a period. Ideally, this period is non-limited, although in specific situations (time-limited therapy, research), it
may be restricted to a few months. When assessing the sandpictures it
becomes clear that each scene is part of an intentional and purposeful
whole, even when the scenes are made months apart. One scene appears
to flow into another, expressed by the repetition of similar figures and
themes, resolution of previously portrayed conflict, unification of opposites that were previously kept separate, and so forth.
Contained in the whole of the process is the portrayal of three major
dimensions of the psyche: the personal conscious, personal unconscious,
and the collective unconscious. Typically, the first two or three sandpictures express the individual's personal consciousness, or the relationship between the ego to itself and others. As more sandtrays are made,
an expression of the personal unconscious and collective levels of the
psyche may occur. It is in these deeper levels that images of the arche-

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types are expressed.* J u n g (1964) refers to archetypes as "primordial

(and mysterious) i m a g e s . . , that manifest themselves in fantasies and
often reveal their presence only by symbolic images" (p. 69). Major
transformations occur at the archetypal level, which is highly symbolic
and healing in nature, since it is through the symbol that opposites can
be reconciled and united (Jung, 1964).
In analysing the personal conscious level of expression, one can see
the individual's view of self, family, community, and environment. This
is especially important with children because these portrayals tend to
include their perceptions of family and parental relationships. In my
study, "The Categorical and Comparative Analysis of the Sandplay Process of Abused and Nonabused Children" (1991), I assessed the sandplay
process of five children from various family situations, traumas and
problems, including those who were sexually abused. All five children
showed significant differences in the way they portrayed family relationships. For the nonabused children, family and communities tended
to be central in their lives. They portrayed them in more than 75 percent of their scenes. In most of the these scenes, the groups cooperated
together or, when necessary, fought as a team to defend themselves
from outside dangers. With the abused children, family and community
groupings were made only 8 to 50 percent of the time, suggesting their
sense of loneliness and isolation from others. When people were used,
they were generally alien in appearance, uncooperative and selfish, violent, and/or destructive. Ruth Bowyer (1970), in her "Search for Developmental Norms," notes five types of "world" expressions that she classified as clinically significant or regressive. These included emptiness or
disorganization, aggression accompanied by the destructive use of sand,
animals devouring other animals or people, fencing with no openings or
gateways, rows with no justification in reality, and unpeopled worlds.
SANDPLAY AS A MODALITY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE TREATMENT
THE CASE PRESENTATION OF ADAM
In my specialized work with sexually abused children, I have observed that

sandplay is especially helpful in the resolution of their pain and conflict. Abuse
issues are extremely difficult for children to acknowledge, let alone verbalize.
SandpIay gives the freedom and safety needed for them to express this trauma
since there are no rules or pressure to speak. It gives them the "free and sheltered place" to express and resolve the dissociation, conflict, and pain which is
the result of sexual abuse. Adam, who was sexually abused by his natural father, was one of five children who participated in my study. Each child made
*See Estelle Weinrib's diagramatic description of the elements of thepsyche as described by Jung in "Diagram of the Psyche," Journal of SandpIay Therapy, Vol. 1, No. 1,
1991.

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twelve sandtrays at my office over a three-to-four month period. This paper is a

presentation and analysis of Adam's process.
Adam was two months shy of age twelve when his mother brought him to
me for their interview and his first sandtray. He lived with his mother, sevenyear-old half brother, five-year-old half sister, and stepfather. Adam had been
sexually abused by his natural father over a six-year period during parent visitations, which was reported three years prior to the study. His father was serving a jail sentence for the abuse at the time the study was conducted. Adam's
relationship with his stepfather was also traumatic. The stepfather was an alcoholic and emotionally abusive and ridiculing. He often called Adam a baby and
told him he was gay because his father molested him. Adam's mother was more
nuturing to him, but because of her unresolved childhood abuse issues, tended to
avoid uncomfortable interactions and deny what was happening around her. She
could not protect her children from abuse in the home.
On the background data form, Adam's mother described his nature as immature with low self-esteem. She said he had few friends and often fought in
defense of their teasing. He occasionally took money from her purse and did not
cooperate at home. When I asked Adam how he felt about his home, he said: "my
house is a crazy house," and outside, "it's crazy too."
Adam's 12-tray process revealed a chaotic, self-destructive, and hostile
world expression. During the four months that he played in the sand, his trays
showed a resolution of inner chaos, internal ordering and creation of clear
boundaries, a confrontation and symbolic killing of his natural father, and the
discovery of a safe and enchanted world within himself. Following is a description of his process and the adjunctive therapy I did with his family toward the
end of his treatment.
Understandably, in Adam's first sandtray, the theme he dramatized centered on sadistic anger and destruction and an inability to keep vulnerable and
peaceful figures safe. He began by placing two Oriental wise men in the center
of the tray, safely protected under umbrellas and guarded by three Rambo-type
men. Brutal attacks were then instigated by a hostile group of cowboys and
Indians, a mad ball and giant rat, which resulted in the death and destruction of
his entire world. He ended his play by placing an Oriental man, described a s " a
mild guy who's not so crazy," on a boat in a little pond in the upper left corner.
He said "they all made friends and lived happily ever after" (Fig. 1).
Of the initial sandtrays that are made, Kalff (1980) stated: "the details and
composition of the pictures give the therapist an indication of the path to follow
in the treatment. Frequently, the initial picture gives information about the
situation and contains, hidden in the symbols, the goal to be aimed at: the realization of the Self (pg. 32)." Adam portrayed his peaceful nature, "a mild guy
who's not so crazy," as important to him. He showed this by placing the Oriental
man in a protected area in the center of the tray and affirmed it at the end by
pulling the same man out of the rubble and placing him in the center of the
pond. Adam's inner world, or psyche, was chaotic and distructive, as was his
outer world. In this tray, he clearly portrayed his lack of psychic cohesion and
resource~llness in defending himself from the onslaught of his outer world. Bowyer (1970) found that disorganized worlds of children past the age of five are
regressive and show a psychological disturbance. It is evident in Adam's initial
tray that he was struggling internally.
Adam's second sandtray communicates a similar struggle, only in this tray,
he tells us more about himself. He described his scene as a war between the
British and Americans, and in this war "their sons fight battles of their own."

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F I G U R E 1.
As in the last tray, he pulled the sand back and exposed the blue bottom in the
upper lei~ corner. In the corner he placed half-size figurine knights to represent
the sons (fig. 2). It appeared that he was communicating that sons identify with
their waring fathers. As fathers fight and sadistically attack each other, which
he played out, so shall their sons, and so shall he.
Adam proudly identified himself as the Americans, saying "they have special ways of doing things so they never die," and "they have treasures (hidden
inside marbles he scattered around) that the British will never find." He placed

F I G U R E 2.

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a sanddollar on the side of the Americans with a clear, fiat marble on top of it.
Adam portrayed the Americans well equipped and able to protect the treasures
they held. Here we get a glimpse of the richness of Adam's inner world and his
desire for strength and healing.
Adam made a comment about the Americans that concerned me. He said:
"they would never talk about top-secret things, but if anyone tells, they go to the
British side," and "you can't find anything of their top secret things." It is my
opinion that everything dramatized by children in the therapy setting must be
taken seriously. Adam was in a world of play, and play for children is a projection of the world they know, live with, and internalize (Esman, 1983; Lowenfeld, 1939). I noted what Adam said about "knowing secret things" and looked to
when he would be more open to talk about it. Later, I did find out about the
secrets he may have known at some level.
A continuous pattern for Adam was to place creative and feminine figures
in protected places of war zones, to be destroyed in dramatic play. In his first
sandtray, he used the Oriental men. In this tray, he used a ballet dancer, hidden
behind a wall on the left-side of the tray. He said of her "one little dancing girl
for a hostage." Adam had a creative nature that could not be released. He struggled with protecting this aspect of himself that was active, colorful, and feminine. In every sandpicture and action associated with it, I look for the disturbances, woundings of the psyche, and struggles. I also look for the strengths that
show me the path to be followed and the needs in the individual's healing process. Adam's feminine nature was under attack by his stepfather, who called
him gay and teased him for acting like a sissy. Adam portrayed his vulnerable
and creative nature, nearly destroyed by the fathers in his life, in a war zone
under attack. He needed to be protected from this.
As in the first tray, Adam violently destroyed this beautiful sandtray that
he tenderly made. He used a large rubber skeleton to wreck the scene, saying
"they killed Paul Bunyon, so his ghost came back and destroyed the world." I
thought often about Adam's ghost of Paul Bunyon. He used him, or similar figures like bim~ consistently in future portrayals. Adam's natural father damaged his
rnasolline image when he molested him, as did his stepfather when he tormented him
about his sexuality. Why wouldn't he feel destroyed inside and be enraged at his
world for doing this to him? But at this point, his rage was against blm~lf.
Adam's third tray was dominated by a large dollhouse with a family inside
described as "monsters in disguise." The family was composed of a father,
mother, and a large child lying on his mother's lap. In front of the house, he
placed a railroad tunnel over a white horse and stuck three colorful umbrellas
on it. A tall and stately female guitarist stood beside the tunnel. Adam added a
British soldier on the side of the house, "stalking to kill the family," he said. He
titled his scene, ' ~ h e Predator" (fig. 3) and proceeded to bomb it with a jet plane.
Everyone was killed and the entire scene, destroyed.
Adam's need for his mother was evident, shown by his placement of the
larged-sized boy on the mother's lap. The scene appeared peaceful until he
stated what other's don't know about the family, that they are "monsters" and
need to be "terminated." He was angry with his family and acted it out in a
brutally aggressive way. The expression of aggression is a good prognostic sign,
showing that the child at play can release the pent-up hostility toward resolution of his conflict (Bowyer, 1970) in a safe and contained medium (Kalff, 1980).
Adam's aggression was brutal, as was his outer world, so he would express it in
brutal, violent play. He appeared relieved afLer this session.
Note again that Adam continuously used creatively feminine figures in
each of his sandpictures. In this scene it was a female guitarist and white horse

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FIGURE 3.

in a tunnel covered by pink and yellow umbrellas. H e clearly had a wonderfully

creative nature that required sustenance. That was his strength.
Adam's fourth sandtray was a religious and law-abiding community setting.
In the community stood a young m a n caught between a church filledwith people
that "he could not enter" and the law (four police cars heading toward him). H e
buried a red car "under cement" in the center front of the tray. The lower left
corner contained a double-fenced home occupied by a father and his daughter
(fig. 4).

F I G U R E 4.

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Adam made this sandtray shortly aider his mother caught him stealing from
her purse. He told me about the stealing before he made the tray and talked
about the guilt he felt. He buried his anger that day (the red car) and portrayed
his moral predicament. On another level, this scene portrays Adam's sense of
isolation from others. One symptom of sexual abuse is the victim's feeling that
his humanity has been severely compromised, that he is cut off from others,
soiled, and marked by society as an outcast. What remains is a tremendous
sense of loneliness and isolation from others (Finkelhor, 1988; Johnson, 1987).
Adam said that the lone figure could not enter the church. In that moment, it
seemed that he realized his isolation and shared his pain with me. A mystery in
this scene is the house, double fenced, and occupied by a father and his daughter. I asked myself, "why double-fenced" and "where is the mother?"
In his f ~ h tray, Adam portrayed a war and death theme. He surrounded his
favorite Rambo figures with fighting knights, then shaped a graveyard in the
upper right comer. The graveyard contained two graves: one, a buried knight
with his horse on it, and the other, two buried female farmers with a statue of
Lincoln on it. Paul Bunyon's skeleton, lying with its head buried, boldly occupied the upper portion of the tray (fig. 5). After the scene was made, Adam
dramatized it by raising the figures from their graves and using Paul Btmyon's
ghost to destroy the world. As a finale to the destruction, he mixed all figures in
a mountain of sand and topped it with Lincoln and a flag.
As in Adam's second sandtray, Paul Bunyon's ghost rose from the dead and
destroyed the world, asserting for the second time the rage he felt over the killing of his masculinity. The two graves are significant. One contained a warrior
with a white horse waiting to be riden again, symbolizing the possible reemergence of his masculinity. The other grave contained his nuturing feminine qualities as female farmers. Lincoln, who stood on their grave, historically is the
Deer of bonded slaves. It appears that Adam placed his Lincoln there to free his
hostage-held feminine qualities.

F I G U R E 5.

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FIGURE 6.
Kalffs (1980) philosophy of sandplay is that it gives the medium for the
expressive use of the symbol, through the figures, which lead toward transformation and healing. The projection of the symbol is a source in the reconciliation of opposites and painful conflicts (Bradway, 1985); Weinrib (1983). The
movement of the symbol within each individual is clearly active and healing,
and, as in Adam's process above, dramatically relevant to their problems and
conflicts. Instinctually, the psyche knows how to heal itself (Jung, 1954; Neumann, 1971).
In Adam's sixth sandtray, he again created a family setting. This time, he
called it a "zoo-fnmily" and laughed. His "zoo-family" contained a mixture of
apes and gorillas, farm animals, farmers, and fighters with weapons. He buried
lambs and sheep in the lower right comer and placed an emergency vehicle,
tank, and totem pole on top. Adam said: "the warriors are interfering with the
zoo by killing. Half the zoo can fight back now" (fig. 6).
In this sandpicture, Adam began creating barriers with lines drawn in the
sand. For the first time, he used tender pets, such as dogs and ponies, and farm
animals. Lambs, symbolic of meekness, innocence and docility and biblically
associated with Christ (DeVries, 1984), were protectively buried and guarded. A
new process began for Adam in this sandtray. His world was now contained and
more protected with defined boundaries, and it had farmers and women who
were armed and prepared to fight back. Adam dramatized the destruction of this
tray more slowly and in a less sadistic fashion. He ended his play by pouring
water over the destroyed world, a form of ritualistic completion. Often, children's play is seen as ritualistic, with religious overtones (Stewart, 1981).
Adam's seventh sandtray was a farm, described as "a normal everyday life like
when two kids get kidnapped and killed. This happens at least everyday." An
abundance of horses roamed freely and a family of pigs were contained in the
upper lei~ corner. A small lake occupied the center of the tray with cars driving out
of it. There were two violent portrayals, a woman shooting a soldier and a bull
prepared to attack a horse, but the violence was clearly less than in previous trays.

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FIGURE 7.

A d a m communicated strongly that he saw his family as brutal and unrealisticin their treatment of children. In a way, he had been killed daily through
the destruction of his spirit.As presented earlier, I have observed that children
continuously represent their perceptions, and possibly the reality, of their family situation in sandplay. I believe it is important for sandplay therapists to note
when mother symbols are competitive, unavailable, or inadequate, when father
symbols are brutal and hostile,when children are killed,and when communities
are isolating or unavailable. Through this expression, the child m a y be communicating what changes need to happen in his family or what his needs are in his
outer world that aren't fulfilled.
In this sandpicture, Adam's seventh, a powerful release of masculine energy
was portrayed (fig.7). His instincts (horses) roamed freely and the cars appeared
to be coming out of the water, or depths of his psyche. The release of the cars
evokes the red car that he buried in scene 4. Adam's use of lakes in his worlds is
positive, showing a willingness to be open (Kalff, 1980).
The creation of boundaries was the primary emphasis in Adam's eighth
tray. He painstakingly shaped m a n y cubicles, and filledseveral of them with an
abundance of wealth and resources. The lower right cubicle held "museum" objects, and he filled the far left cubicle with food. A d a m started to add military
figures, then changed his mind for "soldiers practicing to be in a parade." Close
to the center, he placed two telephones, "in case I need to call for help" (fig.8). A
clear shift was made from violence, power and destruction to control (parading
soldiers, sandwalls), sustenance (stored food), and useable resources (museum
items and telephones for help).
This scene is positively moving and healing for Adam, but dangers continued to be expressed. There were potentially destructive figures (sharks, devils)
intermixed with the Oriental structures, and a large wounded bear was held
captive in the upper right cubicle. A d a m said the bear was wounded (he stuck a
sword in its naval), and the people in the world were keeping him locked up. In
the end, like Paul Bunyon's ghost, the bear broke loose and destroyed the scene.

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GERI GRUBBS

FIGURE 8.

Adam's rage over his damaged masculinity continued to be expressed. Looking

at the bear symbolically, according to deVries (1984), "the word %erserk' probably means q~ear-coat' and refers to a Norse warrior who changes into a furious
bear." Because of the highly symbolic nature of this scene, clearly Adam's process was deepening to the archetypal, or collective unconscious, level. At this
stage, the process can be powerfully healing.
The following week, Adam's mother asked to have him begin full treatment
with me. She had been seeing progress in Adam's behavior and began trusting
me. A d a m understood that he would continue to make the four more trays for
the study, with the remaining time in the fifty-minute session to be used in
whatever way he wanted. This was an unusual situation since, generally, participation in weekly sandplay is leftto the will and desire of the client.
In Adam's firsttherapy session, he shared with m e his worry over his natural father's release from prison one month earlier. He was afraid his father
would contact him. A d a m then proceeded to make his ninth sandtray. He placed
a Hawaiian grouping, composed of three female dancers and one male guitarist,
into the center of a central island he shaped in the sand. Behind them he put
three large knights, wielding their swords over the heads of the dancers. As an
afterthought, A d a m added two telephones (fig.9). He said of the scene, "this is
m y dad and I'm burying him for twenty years." He buried all the figures.
The next week, A d a m made a similar, intensely conflictual, sandtray. It
was highly focused, centered, and directly related to his father. He placed two
soldiers in the center of this tenth sandtray, one shooting the other, and shaped
a square sandwall around them with an opening in it (fig. 10). A d a m appeared
angry when he made this picture and said, "this is m e shooting m y dad." He
then walked his selfsoldier out of the center and said he "tripped on a rock." He
buried the figures and drew a happy face in the sand, then changed his mind
and made it a sad face. Before A d a m leftthat day he said, "Dad's dying and I a m
glad."
These last two worlds that Adam made, were clearly stated and directly

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FIGURE 9.

F I G U R E 10.
related to the wounding of his psyche. In my dissertation, I termed the worlds
t h a t contain elements of psychic wounding related to severe trauma, "wound
trays." They tend to be wet or flooded and primitive in nature, with reptiles,
rodents, snakes, spiders, skeletons, and/or devils in them. There is a dark, horrifying, and painful quality to these worlds. In Adam's trays, the wounding he
portrayed was not as primitive as others I have seen (reptilian in content). In
scene nine, his wounding was expressed more as a brutally violant assault on
his sexuality and creativity (the Hawaiian grouping). Then, in scene ten, he

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confronted this assault by shooting his father. He portrayed his fear and insecurity over facing him this way by "tripping on a rock," then relief with a
"happy face," and sadness over his loss, a "sad face."
In a ritualistic fashion, which is conducive to sandplay, Adam expressed,
from the core of his being, his rage and the t r a u m a perpetrated on him by his
father. This time, he directed his rage at the very source of his wounding, his
father, instead of at himself. The circle and square that he shaped in the center
of the tray are symbols of wholeness, or the intense uniting of psychic contents.
Kalff (1980) stated: "We accept the validity of these symbols of the wholeness of
the human psyche because they have occurred everywhere without exception
from the earliest times of man. The c i r c l e . . , is, as J u n g put it, 'a well known
expression of heaven, sun, God and for the ideal of man and the soul.' The
square, my experience has shown, appears when wholeness is developing. I have
observed that in psychic development, the entity of four appears before the symbol of the circle or in connection with the circle" (pp. 27-28). In this part of
Adam's process, he appeared to be expressing the reemergence or the reclaiming
of his masculinity. This was what he needed for wholeness to develop.
In the session following his tenth sandtray, Adam wanted more choice about
whether to make one. I lei~ it up to him. He waited two more weeks before
deciding to make another tray. A verbal, interactive relationship with me
seemed more important to him now, shown by the telephones he used in his
scenes. He was a verbal child and enjoyed talking about school and the struggles
he had with his friends even as he made the sandtrays. This time, as he talked,
he stood beside the tray and make a circle of small trees in the center. Inside the
circle, he placed a church and a nativity scene, with copper stepping stones leading out to where I was sitting. Around the circle, he placed a forest of trees. He
called it "My Enchanted Forest," and affirmed the title by making a sign and
placing it in his circle (fig. 11). Adam admired his creation and asked me to view
it through the trees and across the steppingstones. This was a powerful moment

FIGURE 11.

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for both of us as we revered his inner world. Afterward, instead of destroying this
world, he turned to the punching bag and used it instead "to punch Dad out."
Kalff (1980) observed that through therapeutic play, a person may experience such an intense release of energy that it triggers the emergence of the Self,
the central archetype or archetype of wholeness. The Self, with us at birth, is
the central organizing factor out of which the ego develops. Just as the ego is the
center of the conscious personality, the Self is the center and the unifying factor
of the psyche. Ego and Self remain connected by the ego-Self axis which ensures
the integrity of the ego (Edinger, 1985). The Self is characteristic in that it
expresses itself primarily as a circle with a center, a square, cross, or other
portrayals of quaternity (Jung, 1954); Neumann, 1973; Edinger 1985). When the
Self is projected onto the sand, usually as a mandala, a new form of increased
ego-strength and balance to the outer world takes place (Kalff, 1980). "The Mandala, as Jung has demonstrated, is the major symbolic expression for the experience of being an individual" (Edinger, 1985). In sandplay, it is not unusual for
mandalas to be spontaneously expressed since the process itself is highly conducive to the uniting of conflicting opposites and the creation of tension:
It was clear to me that Adam made a mandala in his eleventh tray. Kalff
(1980) termed these spiritual expressions the "manifestation of the Self." In
Adam's prior two trays, he portrayed and dramatized the intense conflict which
led to the making of this spontaneous mandala. The circle he formed was not a s
evident as in most Self trays, but it was there as the first projected image, hidden among the trees. Adam created his enchantment and he shared its beauty
and wonder with me. He could relate to and express his spiritual world now that
he faced and confronted his father-wound. In the center of his forest, he placed
the Divine Child with parents who protect it (the nativity). In Scene 4, he
couldn't get into the church. The church was now in his center, contained and
safe. It has been my experience with abused children that once they release
their wounding in the sandplay process, as Adam had done, they are free to
make connections with and express the spiritual depths of their being. These are
very satisfying and enriching moments for them as they touch parts of themselves they may have never experienced before.
Kalff (1980) noted that a reorientation to the outer world normally occurs
after the making of Self trays. Adam's twelfth and last tray symbolically portrays his new orientation. In this scene, he expressed the personal conscious,
self-other world, similar in content to his first trays. It was a war scene composed of two clearly defined and opposing sides, the Germans, occupying the
upper portion of the tray, and the Americans, occupying the lower portion. In
the upper left corner beside the Germans, a "Swiss veteran" stood in front of his
chalet. Behind the Hitler-led Germans was an indented "secret, keep out" area.
The policeman-led Americans faced the Germans with an abundance of artillery
and planes (fig. 12). Adam said: "the American Army is defending a Swiss veteran who opposed the German government." He dramatized a battle and destroyed the scene, leaving a chicken in the Swiss house unharmed.
Of significance in this scene is Adam's portrayal of a strong and united
force, standing firmly to defend a lone, and now peaceful, war veteran. Adam
used a bridge to unite the lone veteran with the police, a clear change in his
relationship to authority figures. He now has a connecting link with the moral
community. The veteran, Adam's Rambo figure used earlier, rebelled against
his country (father) and lived peacefully now near a Swiss chalet (therapy). He
had the Americans (the community and me) to protect him and to take a stand
for what he needed. In earlier scenes, the Rambos were alone against all forces.
This scene portrayed Adam's now-peaceful orientation to life. Nonetheless, his

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FIGURE 12.

orientation was portrayed as fragile, clearly stating that he continued to need

further help. The fragility was expressed in several ways: 1) the Swiss veteran
was a distance away from the protection that was there for him; 2) he was placed
on the side of the Germans, signifying his alliance with and continued dependence
on his family; 3) the battle he portrayed again ended in destruction. Neither side
won. Though Adam viewed his situation in a new way and some healing had occurred for him in the process, clearly he continued to need further treatment.
There were two expressions in this world that appeared significant. First,
Adam portrayed a secret area behind the Hitler-led grouping. Again, I wondered
about the family secrets (scene 2) and the double-fenced house without a mother
inside it (scene 4). Second, the chicken was the last remaining figure after the
destruction of the world, safely hidden in the chalet. Did Adam view himself as
a coward, a message given to him by his stepfather? And was he willing now to
take a stand in protecting that part of himself?. This may have been another way
of saying that he needed the therapy and my support in getting him through
this next stage of healing.
In the session, Adam appeared tired and sad. He verbalized his frustration
over his stepfathers ridiculing attitude toward him. It was clear in my work with
Adam that parent therapy was essential for his treatment. He communicated this
strongly in the family projections he made. I had begun sessions with his parents
the week before. Adam was pleased to see this happen. In the third parent session,
the stepfather didn't come, preferring "to drink instead," the mother said. She appeared frustrated and nearly defeated as she informed me that her husband had
been molesting their daughter. The "secret" was finally verbalized.

CONCLUSION
U n f o r t u n a t e l y , A d a m ' s case did not end p l e a s a n t l y . I r e p o r t e d his
s t e p f a t h e r to Child P r o t e c t i v e Services and he was r e m o v e d from t h e

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home. Because his mother was unable to support herself and the children, she was forced to move in with her parents in another state. I have
not seen or heard from Adam since.
In reviewing Adam's sandplay process, I believe that he did the major work of working intimately with the inner chaos and wounding of
his psyche. Without interference or direction from me, his Self knew
how to heal and in what direction to take him. A significant shift was
clearly portrayed in the sand, indicating t h a t Adam may have developed
greater psychological resources in responding in a less destructive way
to conflict. In addition to this, Adam's sandplay brought me into his
private world. I saw, innermost, his vulnerable, creative spirit, the treasures he hid from others, and his uniqueness. Adam's very deep and
personal feelings about his family and his world were revealed to me. It
communicated more than I would have known about him if he had not
done sandplay.
Nevertheless, even though Adam's process showed that a significant healing took place, it would be presumptuous to believe that he
fully resolved his traumatic life and family situation. Another six to
twelve months of individual and family therapy was definitely needed
for this child. Unfortunately, he was yet faced with the family stress of
his stepfather's trial, his natural father's release from prison, the move
to another place and school, and an indefinite future of a child who was
sexually abused. He had a difficult road ahead. I would like to believe,
though, that because of Adam's therapeutic work in sandplay, he had
begun coping in more productive and less self-defeating ways. Instead of
imprisoning his naturally creative spirit, he began expressing himself
in positive and creative ways; instead of perceiving the world as crazy
and hostile, he began trusting the help and support from others; instead
of viewing his sexual abuse as something bad in him, he began seeing it
as a t r a u m a inflicted on him by an abusive father. A quotation from the
I Ching states: "once a situation is mastered from within the heart, the
success of our exterior action will come about all by itself' (Kalff, 1980,
p. 166).
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