Art Therapy and Emotion Regulation Problems

Theory and Workbook

Suzanne Haeyen

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783319967738
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Personality in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

In this innovative work which combines theory and practice, Suzanne Haeyen explores how art therapy can be useful to people with emotion regulation problems, or 'personality disorders', in diagnostic terms. Covering a number of basic themes encountered in clients with personality disorders, it offers insight into the theory behind art therapy techniques and discusses the current state of research in the field.

In its second part the author provides a workbook based on aspects of dialectical behavioural therapy skill training developed by Marsha Linehan, including mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance. This section also discusses the use of schema-focused therapy; a method developed by Jeffrey Young, and offers a number of exercises for use in specific practice situations. Alongside summaries of the theory, the author explores the multidisciplinary nature of these therapeutic methods and provides 106 exercises which have beendeveloped in practice.

This book offers new ideas and practical tools that will be invaluable to all art therapists working with clients who have difficulties expressing, recognising or coping with their feelings, and who find expressing their feelings through creative work easier than with words.

Part IThe Chapters

© The Author(s) 2018

Suzanne HaeyenArt Therapy and Emotion Regulation Problemshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96773-8_1

Begin Abstract

1. Personal Space from an Art Therapy Point of View Unresolved Issues with Autonomy as Central Factor

Suzanne Haeyen^{1, 2}

(1)

HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

(2)

GGNet, Mental Health Care Institute and Scelta, Expert Centre Personality Disorders, Nijmegen/Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

Suzanne Haeyen

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

1.1 Introduction

In my work as an art therapist in a number of facets of mental health care, I have frequently dealt with clients with a wide range of emotion regulation problems or personality disorders . But despite this diversity, there are also similarities in a broad sense. Strikingly, the central themes often relate to remoteness-closeness and boundaries -lack of boundaries . One client may have strong leanings towards symbiotic relational patterns , while another will seek little or no contact, which manifests itself in certain forms of behaviour . I noticed that I had to closely monitor boundaries in therapy, particularly in acute psychiatry; this brought to the fore that autonomy problems were a central factor, especially when they involved delimiting or structuring the therapy situation and even the therapeutic contact itself. Each time, I had to start by testing whether it was advisable to try to come closer to a client, and how close I could come without having to contend with defences. Clients let you know, verbally or non-verbally, whether they can or cannot handle closer contact and the emotions it evokes. Because these issues with autonomy proved to be so central, I want to take a closer look at what might be termed the figurative personal space . This figurative space can be explored in art therapy: ‘Man must again and again represent his inner reality in external form in order to progress..… (He) begins by experiencing his inward reality as something outside himself and he draws this reality back to himself in the course of integration . It is precisely this mechanism which enables man to progress beyond what he was’ (Champernowne, 1968).

To my mind, this personal space is closely related to the concept of ego strength , to how the ego is structured and in how far it is developed. The self ,¹ or the subjective, personal perception , is also of great importance. Self-determination can be recognised in a person’s personal space . This personal space , which is often encountered in art therapy, thus becomes a symbol for the self-experience , for self-determination .

In discussing the development of this personal space , I will look briefly at ego development and the relationship between self and objects in the first years of life, linking this to the way a child’s drawing develops. I will also consider the way the personal space is given shape in art therapy. In conclusion, I will discuss how art therapy can contribute to developing or rediscovering one’s personal space .

1.2 The Phenomenon of Personal Space

Personal space is a rather vague concept often used figuratively but also literally in writing and speaking. In a figurative sense, it may refer to the position, the space you occupy as a person or the place a particular form of therapy occupies in the treatment team. In a literal sense, it may refer to the place you live, your crafts room or office or your retreat. Time and again, personal space proves to have a big influence on how you feel, on how you function. It then even seems to refer to something with substance.

Viewed from how you experience it, having your own figurative personal space means you can rely on yourself, you have a sense of safety when alone and when in contact with others, and you have an integrated self-image . This includes experiencing your own boundaries , your ego’s boundaries , defending them, and feeling that you are able to and have the courage to open the boundaries . This applies to contacts with others and to contacts you make with yourself, in which these different forces that put up and take down boundaries play an important role. This definition of personal space is very similar to the term ‘ego strength ’ as it is used in psychological discourse.

1.3 Personal Space as Your Own Territory

1.3.1 Human Territory

In their Dutch-language book Verboden toegang (No Entry) from 1984, Bakker and Bakker-Rabdau write about the importance of having your own space, its function and behaviour in relation to it. The book is about human territory and mankind’s territorial struggle. The subject and the way the authors treat it offer many tools for the practice of art therapy: for finding work methods and for acknowledging and understanding processes that take place in and around the personal space . Territoriality is a specific form of possessiveness or control . A person’s territory consists of fields in which he or she has particular expertise, takes initiatives and bears responsibility—in other words, areas that are within his or her control . This refers to physical space and to aspects of our social and intellectual life.

People are faced with territorial conflicts on a daily basis. Territorial behaviour includes, for example, defining the area, setting up warning signs, defending the area tooth and nail, and perhaps making active attempts to expand it. The core of every person’s territory is the self , identity . Autonomy , being autonomous, is having control , being in charge of yourself. The literal meaning of autonomous is self -regulating (Fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1

John’s personal space : the main character in his picture story lives in a hovel called Evening Sun Cottage, surrounded by a huge forest because, as John says, this person has a Homo sapiens phobia. His snarly, snappy hellhound protects him against all the aggressive people who come visiting

1.3.2 Several Territories: Function and Behaviour

A person’s personal space consists of several different, individual territories. There is the private domain, which is the area a person demarcates to guarantee privacy. This aspect is so important for human beings that they will spend a great deal of time and energy defining and defending it. In addition, everyone needs a private space , a shelter. Here, people find rest and relaxation, they can escape from the attention of others and gain new strength in order to deal with the tensions of renewed interactions. This might mean reading a book or, in more concrete terms, having a studio or workplace. And there is also the personal distance: the literal and figurative distance you need if you are to feel safe, which is determined by your own confidence in yourself or in the people around you.

‘The most unsettling symptom of being psychotic is often that the client has lost all sense of privacy. Thinking thoughts that others can read, your inner self being invaded by voices or other strange forces, so that you feel manipulated and are no longer in command of yourself’ (Bakker & Bakker-Rabdau, 1984).

Where a number of people, and therefore also a number of personal territories, meet (e.g. in an art therapy group), we might speak of the public arena. Two types of territories can be distinguished here. Firstly, there is the psychological space , which refers to the psychological influence and the attention people give or receive in a group, and secondly, there is the action domain , the space where a person is active.

1.3.3 Territorial Behaviour and Personality Disorders

Personality disorders often involve learned or acquired patterns of behaviour or ways of maintaining your territory, ways which may have been efficient in the past but which now, in a different context, can no lon...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Part I. The Chapters
• Part II. Workbook
• Back Matter