Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity

Through the lens of neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology, learn how to integrate the intensity experienced by both the child and yourself during aggressive play in a way that leads towards greater healing and integration.

Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity explains the neurological processes that lead kids to dysregulation and provides therapists with tools to help their clients facilitate deep emotional healing, without causing their own nervous system to shut down

With an understanding of aggressive play based on brain function and neuroscience, this book provides therapists with a framework to work authentically with aggressive play, while making it an integrative and therapeutic experience for the child. It also offers play therapists practical ways of handling a pervasive issue with intense and aggressive play by their clients.

Topics covered include: embracing aggression; understanding the nervous system; understanding regulation; developing yourself as an external regulator; authentic expression; setting boundaries; working with emotional flooding; supporting parents during aggressive play.

Buy Your Copy Today! (use code LDION21 for a 25% discount)

The book is also currently available in Audio format and two translations: Spanish and Japanese!

GET CREDITS! Read the book and get 6 APT Non-Contact CE Credits by taking the book study course on our Learning website.

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Other books to read that Lisa Dion has contributed to:

• Play Therapy Treatment Planning with Children and Families: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals (Chapter: “A Synergetic Play Therapy Approach to Treatment Planning” by Judith Norman and Lisa Dion)
• Polyvagal Power in the Playroom: A Guide for Play Therapists (Chapter: “Polyvagal Theory and Play Therapy with Children Who Exhibit Aggression” by David Crenshaw and Lisa Dion)
• EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room: An Integrated Approach (Chapter: “Synergetic Play Therapy Combined With EMDR Therapy” by Jan Schaad and Lisa Dion)
• Nature-Based Play and Expressive Therapies: Interventions for Working with Children, Teens, and Families (Chapter: “Using Nature to Create Safety for Medical Trauma Integration” by Rose LaPiere and Lisa Dion)
• Trauma Impacts: The Repercussions of Individual and Collective Trauma (Chapter: “When the Helper is in Crisis Too” by Lisa Dion)

Additional Publications written by or contributed to by Lisa Dion & other Certified Synergetic Play Therapists

Crenshaw, D. & Dion, L. (2024). Polyvagal Theory and Play Therapy with Children Who Exhibit Aggression. In P. Goodyear-Brown & L. Yasenik (Eds.), Polyvagal Power in the Playroom: A Guide for Play Therapists (pp.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 

Dion, L. (2018). Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity. W.W. Norton & Company.

Dion, L. (2024). When the Helper is in Crisis Too. In J. Stone, R. Grant, & C. Mellenthin (Eds.), Trauma Impacts: The Repercussions of Individuals and Collective Trauma (pp.) Wiley. 

Dion, L. & Norman, J. (2024). A Synergetic Approach to Treatment Planning. In L. Wonders & M. Affee (Eds.), Play Therapy Treatment Planning with Children and Families: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals (pp.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 

Dion, L. & Schaad, J. (2021). Synergetic Play Therapy Combined with EMDR Therapy. In A. Beckley-Forest & A. Monaco (Eds.), EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room: An Integrated Approach (pp. ). Springer Publishing Company.

Howell, D. 2021, March 1. The story of Tim; how a therapist’s own experience of shame & confusion helped a boy recover. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://synergeticplaytherapy.com/the-story-of-tim/

Keating, B. (2023). Diving into the World of Online Play Therapy. In H. Weinberg, A. Rolnick, & A. Leighton (Eds.), Advances in Online Therapy: Emergence of a new Paradigm (pp: 299-307). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

LaPiere, R., & Dion, L. (2022). Using Nature to Create Safety for Medical Trauma. In J.A. Courtney, J.L. Langley, L.L. Wonders, R. Heiko (Eds.), Nature-Based Play and Expressive Therapies: Interventions for Working with Children, Teens, and Families (pp. ). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

The following are peer reviewed journal articles regarding Synergetic Play Therapy:

Dean, J. (2025). Whole Body Play: Inviting More Movement Into Play Therapy. Play Therapy Magazine. March 2025. https://www.modernpubsonline.com/Play-Therapy/PlayTherapyMar25/html/index.html?page=22&origin=reader

Dion, L., & Gray, K. (2014). Impact of therapist authentic expression on emotional tolerance in synergetic play therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 23(1), 55–67. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035495

Simmons, J. (2020). Moving Toward Regulation Using Synergetic Play Therapy. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 54(3), 242–258. Retrieved from https://cjc-rcc.ucalgary.ca/article/view/69443

Townsend, Bethany & Lindsay Ishman, Lisa Dion, & Kara Holt. (2021). An Examination of Child-Centered Play Therapy and Synergetic Play Therapy. Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling. 7. 1-14. 10.1080/23727810.2021.1964931. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23727810.2021.1964931

Yian, Q.S., & Yong, M. (2022). The Inner Hum Project: A Psychosocial Program for Children Building Emotional Resilience during the Pandemic in Malaysia. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature 60(2), 50-59. doi:10.1353/bkb.2022.0025.