The CBPT textbook
The reference volumes of Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy — from Susan M. Knell's foundational work to the updated theoretical model that guides clinical practice today.
The books behind the method
Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy (CBPT) was born from the fusion of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Play Therapy as a theory-based psychotherapy for children. Its foundational and contemporary texts give clinicians a structured, developmentally sensitive framework: cognitive and behavioral interventions adapted to a play-based environment, where puppets, stories and creative activities carry techniques that words alone cannot reach a young child.
CBPT is structured, goal-oriented and directive in nature, and it incorporates empirically demonstrated cognitive and behavioral techniques. The volumes below trace its development — from the first study of applying CBT to young children, to the evolution of the theoretical model and its perspectives for future research.
See all CBPT publications, or read more about the Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy method.
The reference volumes
Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy
Susan M. Knell developed Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy as an intervention that adapts empirically supported CBT techniques to a play-based environment for young children. CBPT incorporates cognitive and behavioral interventions within a play therapy paradigm, providing a theoretical framework based on cognitive-behavioral principles and integrating them in a developmentally sensitive way — using play alongside verbal and nonverbal approaches to resolve problems.
Unlike nondirective play therapy, which avoids direct discussion of the child's difficulties, CBPT uses a specific problem-solving approach that helps the child develop more adaptive thoughts and behaviors. Where the methods of cognitive therapy can be communicated to adults directly, with children they are often conveyed indirectly, through play: puppets and stuffed animals, for example, are valuable for modeling cognitive strategies such as countering irrational beliefs and making positive self-statements. CBPT emphasizes the child's direct involvement in the therapeutic process and includes regular meetings with parents to monitor progress and the parent-child interaction. As the first to study and write about applying Cognitive Behavior Therapy to young children, Knell integrated cognitive-behavioral interventions and play therapy in developmentally sensitive ways. Her book has been translated into Italian and Turkish.
La Play Therapy Cognitivo Comportamentale
Subtitled Evolution of the theoretical model and development perspectives, this volume revisits CBPT thirty years after its first applications, restoring its central role as a therapy of choice for childhood — a therapy capable of integrating evidence-based CBT techniques within the Play Therapy paradigm, including for pre-school children.
Maria Angela Geraci presents an update of the CBPT theoretical model, integrating the studies present in the literature and underlining the decisive role of case conceptualization. The work defines a path for selecting appropriate tools and procedures, alongside a design path for future research.
Bilişsel Davranışçı Oyun Terapisi
The Turkish edition presents CBPT to readers as an approach that combines cognitive and behavioral interventions within the play therapy paradigm, grounded in cognitive-behavioral principles and integrated in a developmentally sensitive way. It echoes the foundational thesis: cognitive strategies can be used effectively with young children when treatment is adapted to be developmentally sensitive and attuned to the child's needs — with puppets and stuffed animals helping to model those strategies through play.
This long-awaited volume will be useful to clinicians of every theoretical persuasion in enabling them to formulate fresh approaches for helping their young patients.
Behind the texts
Susan M. Knell holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and an MA in Developmental Psychology. As the first to study and write about applying Cognitive Behavior Therapy to young children, she integrated cognitive-behavioral interventions and play therapy in developmentally sensitive ways and has written chapters on CBPT in many edited books on Play Therapy. She has provided assessment and therapeutic services to children, adolescents and adults for almost 40 years, and she trains mental health professionals internationally.
Maria A. Geraci is a developmental and educational psychologist and a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, author of several national and international publications, and director of the CBPT Research Center in Rome. She is an adjunct professor at MIUR-recognized schools of specialization in psychotherapy and at several university master's programs.
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