For many years, the science of psychology has created various therapies to help explain and improve one’s behavior and state of mind.

     These therapies include craft, art, pet, music, even humor. In the world of child development, all these fall into the same category—play therapy.

Both Dianne Jimenez and Nerissa Sumpaico stress the need to treat kids with cancer as normally as possible. “They are kids, first and foremost.”

     No play may not only make kids dull, it may also actually stunt other aspects of their growth. Play therapy becomes particularly beneficial when it comes to kids who in their young lives have been exposed to stress, anxiety, depression, and grief. All kids (and especially children with cancer) experience pressure, but it’s their personal circumstances that often determine the need for—and for cancer kids, the level of—therapy. Contrary to most people’s impression, children with cancer are not just to be kept inactive and confined to bed.

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Read the article in the latest edition of The Big C.