My Angry Santray: Sand Tray Therapy Anger Management Assignment

by A. J.
(Mercer University: Sand Tray Therapy Class)

This is my angry sand tray for anger management sand tray therapy. This sand tray more than any other has been really eye-opening for me. The first few miniatures I knew why they stood out to me and who/what they represented. But then I started putting miniatures in and I did not really know why I picked them. It wasn’t until I put them all in and looked at the complete picture that I realized what each one stood for. Once I identified each miniature, it really made sense why I picked each one. The most surprising thing was how angry I am and what all still makes me angry. I do not think of myself as an angry or bitter person, but some of the miniatures represent things I have been angry about for years!
While this was done in a smaller sand tray, it is also the busiest sand tray I have done. Each miniature represents something different and I haven’t discovered everything that they represent. This is also a sand tray I would like to do an extended sand tray on. I think this is an area that I have not been really self aware of and I need to be more aware of, explore, and work through. I can recognize when I am angry and usually what I am angry about. But it is a really uncomfortable emotion for me and I like to get rid of it as soon as possible. I think the first step for me is to allow myself to be angry and then work through the issue. I learned from the sand tray that I have neglected these steps and certainly have not worked through my anger. I believe the discomfort with anger and avoidance of it largely came from the social conditioning that it is not ‘lady-like’ for a southern girl to be angry.
The tank and Army men in the tray represent my brother. I have really been angry with him lately and I was not surprised that he showed up and took up a lot of space in my angry sand tray. In the front is my dad. This really surprised me because I do not think of myself as being angry with my dad, but I think it appeared because of some long unresolved issues I need to work through. Ursula represents the greed and selfishness of people. I think she probably represents more, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. Behind Ursula in the back right hand corner is a monk-like figure. This for some reason represents anger and religion. This one really surprised me. I did not think I had any anger towards religion, but I think I have an idea of why it is there. To the left of the tank is a wedding couple. I chose this because of my anger of my wedding plans not going according to plan and all the strife that has caused me in my life and relationship. Lastly in the back left hand corner is an ugly miniature. This represents how uncomfortable being angry makes me and the ugliness of it.