Books / Lived experience, memoir & fiction
Dibs in Search of Self: Personality Development in Play Therapy
In Dibs in Search of Self, first published in 1964, Virginia M. Axline presents an account of play therapy with a young child known as Dibs. The book describes her approach through a single case narrative.
Book details
Author of listed edition: Virginia M. Axline
Edition: First published in 1964; the 1986 Ballantine reprint has ISBN 9780345339256.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (first edition)
Edition year: 1964
Language and origin: English (United States)
Form and genre: Memoir, Fiction & Lived Experience
Level: Introductory
Historical era: 1960–1979 · Humanistic, Cognitive & Systemic Turn
Covers: A case narrative of play therapy with a child known as Dibs; Axline’s account of non-directive play therapy; The child’s relationships and experiences as represented by the author
APA 7th reference: Axline, V. M. (1964). Dibs in search of self: Personality development in play therapy. Houghton Mifflin.
What it is
First published in 1964, Axline’s book describes play therapy through a case narrative about a child called Dibs. It is written for a general readership as well as readers interested in psychotherapy.
What it covers
Axline presents her non-directive approach through her account of meetings with Dibs. The narrative describes the child’s play and relationships from the author’s perspective.
Reading a case narrative
The book gives an individual clinician’s interpretation of one case. It cannot establish that a parent caused a child’s difficulties, identify a treatment mechanism, or demonstrate that a treatment will work for other children. Later play therapy research examines different children, methods and outcomes.
Reader level and educational scope
This historical case narrative reflects its author’s observations and language. This entry is an introduction to the book, not an assessment of a child or a treatment recommendation.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: The Efficacy of Play Therapy With Children: A Meta-Analytic Review of Treatment Outcomes (Sue C. Bratton, Dee Ray, Tammy Rhine and Leslie Jones, 2005)
Reference: Bratton, S. C., Ray, D., Rhine, T., & Jones, L. (2005). The efficacy of play therapy with children: A meta-analytic review of treatment outcomes. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36(4), 376–390.
A 2005 meta-analysis of play therapy outcome studies. It examines a body of research, not the outcome or causes of change in the individual case described by Axline.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: Axline presents a case narrative in which a child called Dibs participates in play therapy. (A single author’s account cannot establish what caused the child’s difficulties or change.) [Source 1: Axline, V. M. (1964). Dibs in search of self: Personality development in play therapy. Houghton Mifflin.]
Sources and inspection notes
Supports: Library catalogue records the original 1964 Boston publication and identifies the work as a case study.
Supports: A review of play therapy outcome studies; not evidence for causal claims about the individual case.
Axline, V. M. (1986). Dibs in search of self. Ballantine Books.
Supports: Bibliographic record for the 1986 reprint and its ISBN.