"If You Turned into a Monster": Transformation Through Play: A Body-Centered Approach to Play Therapy

I recommend this book not only to therapists who work with children but especially to parents and teachers... [T]his book pushes past the complexities of psychological theory and jargon... [I]t is rare to find a therapist who has the sensitivity and skill to create...a safe and sacred psychological space...in which children feel free to allow their monsters into the room... Dennis McCarthy clearly has this gift... - from the foreword by Richmond K. Greene, Jungian analyst and former director of the C.G. Jung Institute in New York City. With a great deal of love, compassion, and wisdom Dennis McCarthy chronicles the lives and stories of children and their monsters in his book on transformation through play. The best stories always give specific details (this child, this particular situation, this problem) while also telling the universal stories which are meant for everyone, everywhere. This is that kind of important book of life stories. - Gioia Timpanelli, author of Sometimes the Soul: Two Novellas of Sicily (Winner of the National Book Award) and "dean of American story telling". I found Dennis McCarthy's description of his energetic work with children fascinating reading. He has an unusual sensitivity and a solid comprehension of the emotional conflicts children have. His therapy is simple but highly effective based as it is on understanding the child's need to discharge his negative aggressivity safely. I recommend this book to parents, teachers and child therapists. They will enjoy reading it as well as learning from it. - Dr. Alexander Lowen, creator of Bioenergetic Analysis and author of The Language of the Body. "Draw me a picture of what you would look like if you turned into a monster." Dennis McCarthy's work with distressed or traumatized children begins with an exercise that is simple but very effective: he invites the child to communicate with him in their own way, through the non-verbal language of play. Using case studi