Checking json for specific values

I'm rather new to json,

When I decode the json and var_dump on my Wordpress template I get something like this;

array(2) {
  [0]=>;
  object(stdClass)#252 (3) {
    ["areas"]=>;
    array(1) {
      [0]=>;
      array(2) {
        [0]=>;
        object(stdClass)#117 (7) {
          ["title"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["type"]=>;
          string(12) "pagecontents"
          ["category"]=>;
          NULL
          ["block"]=>;
          NULL
          ["size"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["classname"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["shortcode"]=>;
          string(0) ""
        }
        [1]=>;
        object(stdClass)#118 (7) {
          ["title"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["type"]=>;
          string(9) "shortcode"
          ["category"]=>;
          NULL
          ["block"]=>;
          NULL
          ["size"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["classname"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["shortcode"]=>;
          string(0) ""
        }
      }
    }
    ["classname"]=>;
    string(0) ""
    ["size"]=>;
    string(0) ""
  }
  [1]=>;
  object(stdClass)#116 (3) {
    ["areas"]=>;
    array(1) {
      [0]=>;
      array(2) {
        [0]=>;
        object(stdClass)#115 (7) {
          ["title"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["type"]=>;
          string(12) "pagecontents"
          ["category"]=>;
          NULL
          ["block"]=>;
          NULL
          ["size"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["classname"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["shortcode"]=>;
          string(0) ""
        }
        [1]=>;
        object(stdClass)#114 (6) {
          ["title"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["category"]=>;
          NULL
          ["block"]=>;
          NULL
          ["size"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["classname"]=>;
          string(0) ""
          ["shortcode"]=>;
          string(0) ""
        }
      }
    }
    ["classname"]=>;
    string(0) ""
    ["size"]=>;
    string(0) ""
  }
}

I need the ability to check through the variable and if "pagecontents" appears anywhere in the arrays, I want to echo some if/elseif/else.

any help would be much appreciated.