User:Chestereis

=Virginia M. Axline: Dibs in Search of Self=

Virginia M. Axline, a therapist, wrote “Dibs in Search of Self” about one of her patients. The patient was Dibs, a five-year-old boy. Dibs had built a wall around himself and didn’t communicate with the people around him due to circumstances at home. When his case was brought to Ms. Axline, she helped to remove the wall around him using play therapy; a form of counselling in which play is used to help children express their feelings. In order for the therapy to work, it could not have taken place in Dibs’ house. When Dibs’ mother met with Ms. Axline for the first time, she requested that Ms. Axline “study Dibs here in his playroom upstairs” (34). Ms. Axline responded that “it would be better if I see him in the playroom at the Child Guidance Center”. Dibs’ mother continued to argue the point, saying “no one would ever interrupt or bother you there,” and “we would be pleased to pay you a higher fee if you would come here” (35). Ms. Axline continued to refuse and the sessions took place at the Child Guidance Center. When Dibs visited the Child Guidance Center for the second time, he made it clear that his behavior had a lot to do with his home. When he was told he had a few minutes left, he began stalling for time. Ms. Axline noticed and said, “you can think of several things to do so you won’t have to go home, can’t you?”, Dibs began sobbing, saying: “No go now. No go ever.” Later, as Ms. Axline was preparing him to leave, he stood up and began shouting “Dibs no go out of here. Dibs no go home. Not never!” This dialogue shows he dreaded his home and would not have been so open there, as it was the cause for his closure. (57)	A few years after the therapy was over, when Dibs was seven, his family moved into Ms. Axline’s neighborhood. When the two met and were reminiscing, Dibs repeated the dialogue they had the first time they met at the Child Guidance Center; “’This is your room, Dibs,’ you said to me. ‘This is all for you. Have fun, Dibs.’ And I did have fun”. The way he specifically repeated those parts of the conversation shows it meant a lot to him that the room was a new place where he could start all over.(211) Play therapy will not have the desired effect in the place that caused the fear and anxiety. In the world of play therapy, it is extremely uncommon for the therapy to take place in the patient’s house. This is because the home is usually the reason for the need to have play therapy in the first place. In the case of Dibs, this was especially apparent in the way he would act out what happened in his home with the dollhouse in the Child Guidance Center. source: Virginia M. Axline: dibs in search of self