SPRINTS-Sand Play Reprocessing Integrating Nonverbal Trauma-Interventions and Self-Stabilization. A Controlled Pilot Study

Author(s): Beate Leinberger

Introduction: Psychic traumata among children, e.g. familiar violence, war, political supression or second-dary because oft he pandemic situation, are very important medical topics worldwide. Because of the lack of psychotherapists more or less anywhere, multipliers as co-therapists should be integrated. These specially trained non-professionals we call Traumahelpers (TH). In the last seven years pilot projects in German, Telangana (India), and Palestine were performed.

Method: TH first learn self-stabilization techniques: Slow Paced Breathing, Somatic Universal Regulative Exercise and different techniques of Bilateral Stimulation like tapping or “lying eight”, which are near to children`s daily living experiences (e.g. swinging, drawing slopes, singing, move and run) and all derivates from the established traumatherapy-concepts. At the end the TH experience the Sandplay-Therapy, the nonverbal equivalent of desentizitation reprocessing.

Results: In this pilot Study 15 children, aged 5 to 12 years, sectioned in two groups (one in Germany and one in Andhra Pradesh, India), diagnosed with the Depression Self Rating Scale and the Children – Impact of Event Scale had up to 10 Sandplay sessions, within three to five months. Every child had its individual TH during all the sessions. If the TH observed emotion or excitation, he or she offered self-stabilization exercises which he or she performed together in a manner that the child was able to do it even alone.

Conclusions: The children improved significant, comparing pre-post results and a one-year katamnesis and compared to the not yet treated multicenter controls. The concept can be easily transferred in different cultures.