- 148 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Robert Gray offers a thorough and well-rounded clinical guide to exploring the depth of the unconscious through art in psychotherapy. He emphasises the clinical relevance of art therapy and critically highlights ideas around evidence-based practice and the link to cognitive behavioural therapy. Gray suggests specific ways of engaging with clients and their images, such as uncovering life scripts, changing neural pathways through Creative Mind Ordering, and addressing traumatic experiences through the Jungian Self- Box. He shows how artists and psychotherapists can make a transformational difference by combining 'art as therapy' and 'art in therapy' with a scientific approach and a spiritual awareness. He argues a clear framework that bridges the unmeasurable and spontaneous part of psychotherapy through art, along with the work with the unconscious and the clarity of a scientific method, can help facilitate long term change.
Art Therapy and Psychology is hands-on and rich with supportive study tools and numerous case studies with which the reader can relate. This book is essential reading for art therapists in training and in practice, psychologists and mental health professionals looking to establish or grow their expertise.
Frequently asked questions
Information
Chapter 1
Foundations
This book and you
Working with the unconscious mind
Freudâs iceberg in art therapy
Example: Client with the belief âIâm not a good mother.â
Emotions and the unconscious
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and psychoanalysis
The difference between the two
Exploring the official timeline of art therapy and psychology
- Early 1900s: Freud and Jung lead the way with the âpowerâ of the unconscious.
- 1930s: âArt as therapyâ is used in mental health institutions.
- 1940s: âArt in therapyâ (some authors call it âart psychotherapyâ) began when psychiatrists, psychologists and art therapists started using drawings and paintings as a way to replace verbal communication, to prompt discussion, explore transference (of feelings from client to analyst), and countertransference (from analyst to client), and to tap into the unconscious material of their clients.
- 1950s: Behavioural therapy developed in opposition to psychoanalysis and the work with the unconscious. After the horrors of World War II, psychoanalysis, with its strong focus on the life instinct, which includes sexual instincts âErosâ, and the death instinct, destruction and death wish âThanatosâ as core impulses, lost popularity, possibly out of a need for something more tangible, dependable, measurable and reliable. This was a crucial moment in history, where many psychologists moved away from working with the unconscious and art therapy. I believe the world was traumatised by this event and when people are affected by trauma, they like to be pragmatic and rational. They donât want to delve too deeply. Even if they reflect on the past, they want to focus on practical solutions in the present and concentrate on the future.
- 1960s: Cognitive therapy has been developed to deal with the shortcomings of behaviour therapy. It helped to identify thinking and how it affected us, i.e. sometimes people tend to do the right thing, but their thinking is not in it, which can cause them stress etc. You might be nice to your boss, but think otherwise and grumble.
- 1960s: Humanistic therapy is a third force (Maslow, 1968; Moon, 2016), opposing the determinism of dehumanising psychoanalysis and behaviour therapy. There is a strong belief that we are capable of healing ourselves, and the role of the therapist is âjustâ to enable that. I personally see this approach as the baseline for all good therapy. We start here and then use different approaches in a decisive way. Consequently, we donât need to have all the answers and can be respectful and supportive towards the inner wisdom of our clients.
- 1970s: Behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy got âmarriedâ and formed a powerful union, a paradigm of evidence-based practice for decades to come, continuing up to today.
- Today: Throughout all those years, art therapy has not disappeared, but has become more widely accepted and many psychologists who struggle with using CBT alone show an increased interest in working âagainâ with the unconscious including art therapy.
Two types of art therapy
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 Foundations
- 2 Positive art therapy
- 3 Representational images, projective drawings and the House-Tree-Person (HTP) task
- 4 Life Script: Create an alternative script
- 5 Goals: Overcome obstacles
- 6 Abstract art and the self-picture mind map
- 7 Self-Box: Become authentic and integrate traumatic memories
- 8 Creative Mind Ordering (CMO): Change neural pathways
- 9 Advancing art therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
- 10 Group art therapy
- Pseudonyms
- Acknowledgments
- Index