Professional paths over six decades researching and practicing play

Reflecting on more than a half century of research and clinical practice, we focus on one feature of the human condition, our ability to engage in mental imaginative representations. Our research deals with pretend play of children, and adult thought focusing on possible worlds, potential social interactions, stream of consciousness, and planful action sequences. We point to ways research on play, imagination, and self-systems, may be incorporated into clinical practice. Two cases representing how research affected treatment in a toilet phobic child, and treatment with an adult manifesting anxiety and depression are discussed. In both cases, we highlight how the use of imagination, in particular, affected the outcomes

Anxiety · Clinical Practice · Consciousness · Developmental psychology · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Toilet · Child Therapy and Development · Medicine · Mind wandering and attention · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology

• The principles of psychology.

  William James•1913

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• The Brain's Default Network

  Open Access•Randy L Buckner, Jessica R Andrews‐Hanna et al.•Annals of the New York Academy of…•2008

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• Wandering Minds

  Open Access•Malia F Mason, Michael I Norton et al.•Science•2007

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• Self-discrepancy

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• Children's games in street and playground

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• Personality and Psychotherapy

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• Introduction

  Open Access•Timothy J Strauman•Journal of Personality•1994

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• Representations of Self and Other

  Open Access•Daniel Hart, Nigel P Field et al.•Journal of Personality•1997

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• Self‐Discrepancies as Predictors of Vulnerability to Distinct Syndromes of Chronic Emotional Distress

  Open Access•Timothy J Strauman, E Tory Higgins•Journal of Personality•1988

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• Self-discrepancy and natural killer cell activity

  Timothy J Strauman, Andrine Lemieux et al.•Journal of Personality and Social…•1993

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• Family television viewing habits and the spontaneous play of preschool children

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• Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in delay of gratification

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• Personality and Psychotherapy

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• The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren

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