Psychiatric effects of military deployment on children and families: the use of play therapy for assessment and treatment.

Deployments in the United States military have increased greatly in the past 10 years. Families and children are psychiatrically affected by these deployments, and recent studies are clarifying these effects. This article focuses on the psychiatric effects of deployment on children and uses a composite case example to review the use of play therapy to treat children who are having psychiatric issues related to the deployment of one or both parents.