Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche [Paperback]

Dora M. Kalff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1981 | ISBN-10: 0938434004 | ISBN-13: 978-0938434009

This seminal text by the founder of sandplay therapy offers clinicians and students a foundational account of the workings and practice of this therapy. Through simple but elegant narratives of actual casework, Kalff articulates her theoretical understanding of how sandplay therapy heals and transforms the psyche. Dr. Martin Kalff, the author’s son, provides a new introduction in which he shares original historical material about his mother and her development of the sandplay therapy method. A comprehensive index and tables of illustrations and references are included for ease of study and understanding.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)

About the Author

Dora M. Kalff was the founder of sandplay therapy and an internationally recognized Jungian therapist.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Sigo Pr (August 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0938434004
• ISBN-13: 978-0938434009
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #589,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Seminal and Classic Book, June 21, 2004

By 

joyce cunningham - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche (The Sandplay Classics series) (Paperback)

The republication of Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche is an especially important contribution to the field of sandplay. This seminal, classic book had been out of print for several years and sorely missed.
The 2003 edition by Temenos press opens with a new and riveting foreword by Dr. Martin Kalff about the life of his mother, Dora M. Kalff. His "experience near" delivery of thought and feeling brings to the reader a special intimacy with Dora Kalff's personal and professional life experiences.
Temenos is scrupulous in retaining Dora Kalff's original words, but has added useful material which makes it possible to use Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche as a reference book: a detailed new table of illustrations where chapters, pages and captions are clearly cross referenced, a table of works cited which is also "user friendly," and finally an excellent index.
In chapter 1, Sandplay: A Pathway to the Psyche, Dora Kalff lays out the phases fo psychic development. The reader is immediately struck by her teaching style, an by the generous number of illustrations. Chapters 2 through 10 are case histories. To me these chapters read not only like clinical case histories but also like biographical vignettes that happen to be "clinical." One not only understands but gets the "feel" of how Kalff worked. Some of the chapters are : Kim, a 12-year old- with learning problems; James, a 16-year-old who experienced early trauma; Dede, a 5-year-old with a speech block; Ursula, a young woman suffering from depression; and Eric, a man with a blushing problem. Other chapters deal with issues of anxiety, enuresis, passivity, and isolation. The book's conclusion confirms Kalff's related wisdom.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a real classic, August 13, 2007

By 

N. Dilworth "Ching Fan" (Sandpoint, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche (The Sandplay Classics series) (Paperback)

I really felt that Dora Kalff was a woman of great warmth and intuition. Mrs. Kalff was also the possessor of many talents that contributed to her therapeutic work.