Sandplay: Psychotrauma Signs in Asylum Seeking Adolescents

ABSTRACT

This research aimed to identify signs suggesting psychotrauma in Sandplay scenarios of unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents in the Netherlands. The Sandplay method involves the client constructing a three-dimensional scenario in a standardised sand tray, indicating representations of one’s experiences, emotions, and life events. The first Sandplay of 12 adolescents (equally girls/boys ages 15–17 years from African origin) referred to mental health treatment were analysed. Participants signed an informed consent for research. The material investigated procedure reports and photographs of the Sandplay scenarios; the analysis included titles, clients’ commentaries, themes, and contents of the scenarios. Results have shown common use of vehicles, animal, and soldier miniatures, with little engagement with the sand. Most of the scenarios suggested psychological wounding being incomplete representational and mixed, aggressive, empty, closed, and disorganised, displaying the need for protection and nurturance. The most common themes also indicated psychological trauma, presenting elements of emptiness, threatening, and split. The results confirmed literature related to psychotrauma, although Sandplay research with adolescents is rare in the field. Therefore, this research contributes to the understanding of psychotrauma, supporting the use of Sandplay as a nonverbal psychological assessment method for early diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder in that population.