Author(s)

James P. McCullough Jr.¹, Kara Elizabeth Burr²

¹Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Henrico, VA, USA.
²Restoration Clinic, Fort Worth, TX, USA.

The current paper is a theoretical proposal that interfaces the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) and its emphasis on interpersonal consequences with the structured order of a Play Therapy Model for troubled 3 - 8-year-old children. This proposal is not a research paper or a review of literature; instead, it is a treatment proposal that is novel and untested. CBASP psychotherapy, an empirically validated treatment, was developed originally to treat the persistently depressed adult. CBASP’s major focus of interpersonal consequation will be interfaced with a Play Therapy structured model to rectify the maladaptive preoperational functioning of five interpersonal types of problem-children. The types are classified interpersonally using D.J. Kiesler’s Interpersonal Message Inventory (IMI). Kiesler’s IMI is employed in this proposal as an ongoing assessment modality, a source of information to make treatment strategy consequation decisions, and thirdly as an evaluative outcome variable. The troubled child types described herein frequently become candidates for early-onset Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD) unless rescued by successful treatment. The origins of early-onset PDD arise in dysfunctional households where toxic interpersonal relationships predominate: where “survival from abuse,” not growth, describes the child’s modal developmental experiences. These children are often exposed to either serious traumas (e.g., sexual abuse, loss of a parent, physical abuse, physical or emotional neglect) or psychological insults (e.g., continuous, and chronic verbal and nonverbal abuse). The result, in the most serious cases, is a maturational stunting at the preoperational stage of development which, as noted above, if not successfully resolved, thrusts the child into early-onset PDD.

Play Therapy, Early-Onset Persistent Depressive Disorder, CBASP Psychotherapy, Preoperational Functioning, Impact Message Inventory, Interpersonal Circle

McCullough Jr., J. and Burr, K. (2022) CBASP Adapted to Child Play Therapy Structure to Prevent Early-Onset Persistent Depressive Disorder. Open Journal of Psychiatry, 12, 53-72. doi: 10.4236/ojpsych.2022.121006.