A therapeutic approach rooted in the wholeness of the human being
Play, Art & Creativity Therapy is the therapeutic application of Daoud’s method. It emerges from a fundamental understanding of the human being as a unified whole: body, emotion, thought, imagination, voice, memory, personal history, and creative potential are not separate dimensions to be addressed independently, but interconnected expressions of one living self.
Rooted in the philosophy of Daoud’s method, this holistic approach considers the human being in the fullness of their phyritual (مدرحي) existence: the inseparability of the physical and the spiritual (hence the phyritual), the body and the psyche, the visible and the invisible aspects of the self. Within this perspective, therapeutic change does not consist only in understanding difficulties, analyzing past experiences, or identifying problematic patterns. It involves engaging the whole person in an active process of transformation, through which the individual can rediscover, develop, and embody new possibilities of being – the difficulties, traumas, and problematic patterns resolve as a consequence.
This understanding is closely linked to Daoud’s work on opposites. Therapeutic change does not occur by allowing one dimension of the self to dominate another, but by developing and integrating seemingly opposite tendencies: control and release, strength and flexibility, emotional expression and regulation, openness to others and preservation of boundaries. The individual becomes able to manage these forces according to what serves their well-being, relationships, and engagement with the world.
At the heart of this approach lies a central idea from Daoud’s philosophy: the actor is not only a performer on stage. The actor represents the human being in the process of discovering and developing their fullest self.
“The actor is the researcher and the seeker of himself in the absolute human being, in his cosmic essence and in his psycho-physical-creative components and abilities.”
(Jean Daoud, 2004)
In the therapeutic context, this vision extends beyond the performing actor to every person. The participant is invited to become the researcher of themselves: discovering their capacities, exploring their limitations and strengths, transforming their relationship with their body and emotions, and developing a more authentic, creative, and flexible way of engaging with life.
Play: a space for therapeutic change
In Daoud’s method, play is not opposed to seriousness. On the contrary, play becomes serious because the whole human being is engaged in it.
The exercises used in therapy are structured as creative games involving the body, imagination, emotions, voice, relationships, and spontaneous responses. They create a space where participants can experiment with new ways of acting, being, and relating, beyond habitual and learned patterns and automatic responses that may restrict their possibilities.
One of Daoud’s first invitations to participants is often to move beyond familiar solutions. In one of his early exercises with a group, he asked participants to “climb the wall” — a seven-meter smooth wall. Their first responses consisted of attempts to reproduce known solutions: walking on the wall, using physical force, or searching for realistic strategies. When invited to find another way, they were triggered to abandon inherited solutions and enter a creative search specific to themselves.
This simple exercise reflects a central principle of Daoud’s therapeutic approach: the individual is invited to move beyond responses acquired from their environment and education to discover new possibilities emerging from within.
Through play, participants develop the capacity to respond creatively rather than react habitually. Creativity becomes not only an artistic ability, but a way of approaching life and adapting to its challenges.
Finding the child: recovering authenticity and freedom
One dimension of play in Daoud’s method is reconnecting with the child within.
This does not mean returning to childhood or abandoning adult maturity. Rather, it means recovering qualities that are often diminished through social conditioning, fear, judgment, and defensive patterns: spontaneity, curiosity, imagination, freedom of exploration, and the capacity to create.
Daoud considers that every human being carries an essential creative and expressive potential. The “actor” within the person can be weakened when education and social expectations impose excessive masks and limitations. Finding the child means rediscovering the part of oneself capable of exploring, creating, and responding freely.
This process supports a central aim of therapeutic change in Daoud’s method: moving from an adapted or fragmented self toward a more authentic and integrated self.
The child is therefore not a symbol of immaturity, but of openness and possibility. Finding the child is, in this sense, finding a more mature self — one capable of choice, creativity, and genuine presence.
The actor’s play: embodying the self
Play in Daoud’s method also refers to the actor’s play: the demanding creative act of performance.
The actor developed through Daoud’s training is not simply someone who represents a character. The actor works toward a state of readiness in which the different dimensions of the self become available: body, emotion, imagination, voice, rhythm, thought, personal history, relation to space, and relation to others.
This state of readiness requires extensive self-awareness and management. The actor learns to observe and regulate the smallest components of their presence while remaining open to creativity and external influences. This includes the posture and movement of the body, vocal expression, emotional variations, rhythms, spatial relationships, and the dramaturgy of the act.
The same capacities become therapeutic resources when adapted to non-performing individuals. The participant develops a deeper awareness of themselves and gains greater ability to respond to situations with flexibility, creativity, and choice.
As Daoud defines the actor:
“The actor is the researcher and the seeker of himself in the absolute human being, in his cosmic essence and in his psycho-physical-creative components and abilities.”
(Jean Daoud, 2004)
The actor’s search is therefore a search for the human being’s possibilities. In therapy, this search becomes a process through which the individual develops a fuller relationship with themselves and with life.
Creativity as a path toward therapeutic change
Creativity is central to every stage of Daoud’s therapeutic approach. It is not understood as a talent reserved for artists, but as an essential human capacity involved in adaptation, growth, and transformation.
Through creative exercises, participants develop the ability to generate new responses, imagine alternatives, overcome fixed patterns, and discover resources they did not previously recognize.
Creativity in Daoud’s method involves the whole person. It is not only a mental process; the body, emotions, imagination, intuition, and lived experience all participate in the creation of new possibilities.
This is why participants often describe the development of creativity as a source of confidence and resilience. By discovering their capacity to create, they discover their capacity to transform their relationship with themselves and with the world.
The therapeutic work develops several dimensions of creativity:
- Divergent thinking: the ability to move beyond habitual patterns and generate multiple possibilities.
- Authenticity: the capacity to create from one’s genuine self rather than from imitation or external expectations.
- Fluency: the ability to continue searching and producing new responses without becoming blocked by the first solutions.
For Daoud, creativity is inseparable from authenticity. A genuinely creative act must emerge from the individual’s own essence.
“Every Artistic Being (the name Daoud gives to an artistic creation) that can be described as creative will bear its own rules and differentiate itself from other works; otherwise it will lose its authenticity, hence its creativity.”
(Jean Daoud, 2005)
In the therapeutic context, this principle becomes a process of recovering the individual’s uniqueness and developing a healthier relationship with oneself and the world around.
Art as a path to self-discovery
Within Daoud’s therapeutic approach, art is not used only as a means of expression. It becomes a way of encountering and transforming the self.
Movement, voice, imagination, writing (including post-session writing about the session), and dramatic creation allow experiences that may be difficult to access through words alone to emerge and be worked through. The person does not simply speak about themselves; they experience themselves differently through embodied action.
This is one of the distinctive aspects of Play, Art & Creativity Therapy: therapeutic change occurs through lived experience.
The participant is not only an observer of change. They actively participate in creating new ways of being, responding, and relating.
As Daoud states:
“In art, therapy becomes an essential portal to safaa, to life in what it holds as holy and aesthetic.”
(Jean Daoud, 2011)
Safaa — a state of clarity, transparency, and alignment with one’s deeper self — represents the direction of this work. Through play, art, and creativity, the individual moves toward greater integration, presence, and freedom.
Therefore, Daoud rejects the term therapy (except for easing the communication) and replaces it with the term Istisfaa when speaking of the therapeutic process in his method – it is the ever-renewing path to Safaa.
A therapy of becoming
Play, Art & Creativity Therapy is ultimately a process of becoming.
It invites the individual to reconnect with forgotten and unperceived capacities, transform limiting patterns, develop emotional and creative resources, and engage more fully with themselves and others.
By working with the whole person — body, emotions, imagination, voice, and thought — Daoud’s method offers a therapeutic pathway in which change is not limited to the reduction of difficulties, but includes the development of human potential.
The individual discovers that creativity is not merely something they possess; it is a way of being. Through play, they rediscover their ability to create, choose, adapt, and participate actively in shaping their own life.