Insight
Art therapy is much more than just i no other form of communication seeming how best to treat a patient’s distur Pictorial art constantly provides us with insights into the mind of the artist, and this highly subjective aspect of painting is the ‘starting point of art therapy. At the end of the last century, creative work began to play its part in psychiatric developments and both Jung and Freud drew on their patients’ work when developing their schools of thought. The importance of art as a portrayal of the way in which society works and the way individuals within society act and interact developed considerably during the early part of this century. Many educational pioneers emphasised the importance of the visual arts so that the therapeutic potential of creative work developed in two spheres.
It was not until the 1940s, however, that doctors, psychotherapists, teachers and artists came together to crystallise ideas and the first art therapists began work - mainly in hospitals. The following years saw tremendous developments in art therapy - mainly channelled through the inspiration and ideas of individuals, working in hospitals and many kinds of schools. There was a great deal of discussion and much writing about the relationship between visual arts and mental illness.
But how does art therapy actually work} What does it try to do? Art therapy is not easy to categorise but it falls somewhere between psychotherapy and art teaching.
Certainly the teaching role of the therapist is played down and the patient is encouraged to express himself freely whilst, at the same time, being given ~ every encouragement to do so. So the main purpose is not the conventional educational one - acquisition of information or a skill. The purpose is the acquiring of knowledge, but knowledge about the person/ patient himself, his innermost feelings, his fears, his
THROUGH ART
Alison Wertheimer
activity’ to keep patients occupied. It can be a bridge to progress wh J’e or it can provide a psychiatrist with a valuable clue when it comes to dec 3te of mind. J Doodling can lead on to writing for many patients - a skill they may not have used for several years. Adding features to three ‘balloons’ provoked a peal of laughter from a previously silent woman in her 30s. aSliilS m 9 “
Self-portrait of a lonely woman in a park.
conflicts … This kind of ‘knowledge’ is often something which can only be expressed on canvas or paper - it sometimes involves thoughts and feelings of which the patient himself is not conscious. Even if he is aware of them he may be unable to express them verbally, but through art therapy - the expression of these feelings in pictorial terms - he can share them with the therapist and perhaps start to come to terms with them. The therapist, in sharing this knowledge, is able to attempt an assessment of the person’s particular difficulties and, in some cases (where the patient agrees) the work can be shown to the psychiatrist involved, to help him reach a diagnosis.
In 1964 the British Association of Art Therapists* was formed. One of its aims is to act as a clearing ?Secretary: Miss Diane Waller, 13c Northwood Road, London, N.6. house for information and ideas about the role of the arts in therapy and education. The Association recently staged an exhibition, ‘Art in hospitals, at the new St. Pancras Library as a joint venture with the Camden Association for Mental Health. Over 50 drawings and paintings, as well as some ceramics, were on show from 8 different centres - these included day centres, child guidance clinics, occupational therapy units and psychiatric hospitals.
At its most basic level art therapy may be just a series of doodles - done by someone with their eyes open or closed. One of the exhibits showed how one Patient’s doodling (with closed eyes) led him on to writing - something which he had not attempted for years; so the doodling became a channel through which communication could be re-established.
Another, more sophisticated, example of this breaking through non-communication was provided by a vivid painting of three faces done by a severely retarded woman in her mid-30s. This woman did not Speak at all. But, in an art session, having originally drawn three balloons and been encouraged to experiment further, she then drew these three faces; her response to what she had done was her first attempt at verbal expression - a burst of laughter: a rewarding and worthwhile experience for both patient and therapist - and a starting point for improvement. Art therapy is often a means of expressing subconscious feelings in visual images - feelings or emotions of which the patient is aware but is unwilling to express in words.
A 17-year-old Jamaican boy, separated from his Mother and younger brother and living with a strict, demanding father, is outwardly quiet and compliant although he occasionally exhibits irrational outbursts anger. These feelings of suppressed anger were clearly expressed in one of his paintings by his depiction of pent-up lava erupting in a violent purple and yellow stream from a volcano.
Another ‘violent’ painting was a self-portrait of a patient suffering from a breakdown brought about by family problems. Outwardly a very mild character, he never reacted violently, even in the face of undeserved provocation from other patients. But, just before his release, he painted an aggressive self-portrait in violent reds and yellows which, to his surprise, revealed feelings of anger that he had always kept subconsciously suppressed.
A less obvious ‘self-portrait’ on the show was a painting by a rather isolated woman, fond of painting children and animals … In the park, children are happily Playing on the swings while one figure stands watching - alone except for the ‘company’ of a cat. Quite literally, she is not ‘in the swing of things. At the end of the exhibition was a series of paintings by one man, done over several years. The nude sketches were done while he was an art student and show considerable talent.
Two sketches of nudes drawn by a man when he was a promising art student before he became ill … … two more sketches with a Bosch-like quality done just before his admission to hospital when he was expressing very strong feelings about his body. The figure in the mire is a self-portrait depicting a fear of ‘letting go’.
The next two sketches arose almost unconsciously from doodles and have a Bosch-like quality - these were done just before his admission to hospital. At the time he was expressing very strong feelings about his body which are reflected in these drawings. The figure in the mire is a self-portrait expressing his own fear of letting go (of drowning in his own madness?). His final drawing, done some three years later, is an abrupt shift away from his previous work. He has apparently lost all feeling and no longer preoccupied with his emotions, he has turned away completely from depictions of the human body.
So art therapy has a double function. On the one hand, both patient and therapist are acquiring new insight and understanding of inner thoughts and feelings, while, on the other, the very act of painting, drawing or doodling can act as a therapeutic process in itself. and a final drawing done three years later when the style has changed completely and become unemotional.
The next two sketches arose almost unconsciously from doodles and have a Bosch-like quality - these were done just before his hospital admission. At the time he was expressing very strong feelings about his body which are reflected in these drawings. The ligure in the mire is a self-portrait expressing his own fear of letting go (of drowning in his madness?). His final drawing, done some three years later, is an abrupt shift away from his previous work. He has apparently lost all feeling and no longer preoccupied with his emotions, he has turned away completely from depictions of the human body.
So art therapy has a double function. On the one hand, both patient and therapist are acquiring new insight and understanding of inner thoughts and feelings, while, on the other, the very act of painting, drawing or doodling can act as a therapeutic process in itself.
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