Beyond the Playroom: A Focused Review and Composite Case Illustration of Child-Centered Play Therapy in High-Intensity Parental Disputes

Date of Award

Fall 11-21-2025

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Kelly Elliott

Second Advisor

Kym Spring Thompson

Third Advisor

Ryan Colby Rogers

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Interparental conflict, High-intensity parental disputes, Early childhood mental health, Child-centered play therapy, Coparenting

Abstract

Exposure to high-intensity parental disputes (HIPD) reliably predicts internalizing and externalizing difficulties for children (Davies & Martin, 2014; Rhoades, 2008; van Eldik et al., 2020). Despite growing recognition of HIPD’s developmental impact, guidance for early childhood clinicians remains limited. This paper has two aims: first, it provides a focused review of the literature on HIPD and the associated child outcomes, with an emphasis on early childhood and clinical applicability. Second, it illustrates clinical experiences and considerations through a de-identified composite case of a preschool-aged child chronically exposed to HIPD and treated using child-centered play therapy (CCPT). The composite case illustration demonstrates that in-session gains in regulation and symbolic processing were meaningful yet did not generalize well beyond the playroom while detrimental interparental conflict remained active, which aligns with the broader literature that child-only interventions rarely overcome ongoing HIPD without concurrent caregiver change (Rautio et al., 2025; Misurell & Schwartz, 2024; Schmidt & Grigg, 2024). Findings emphasize that even developmentally attuned child therapy has limited reach when entrenched parental conflict remains unaddressed. This underscores the value of systemic and integrative intervention models, as well as the importance of professional safeguards given the cumulative complexity of HIPD cases.

Copyright Date

10-13-2025

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Rights Holder

Sandra Macharia

Provenance

Received from author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

36 pgs

File Size

468 KB

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