November/December 2004
Art therapy: The healing powers of imagery
By Ellen Mahoney
The
term “art therapy” may conjure up images of actor Jack
Nicholson reluctantly making pipe cleaner sculptures in the classic
film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Not surprisingly, there’s
a great deal more to this creative form of therapy.
Art therapy is a primary form of psychological treatment used
in the mental health care profession today, and is no longer considered
an adjunct to traditional methods such as talk therapy. It carefully
weaves together psychotherapy with the creative art process, and
can be a highly effective way to enable healing through the exploration
of verbal and non-verbal expression.
Art therapy is used for people of all ages and backgrounds, regardless
of their creative abilities. It may include working with art materials
such as pencils, pens, chalk, pastels, ink, paint and clay, to create
everything from simple line drawings, large wall mural paintings
or intricate three-dimensional box sculptures.
Through the creation of art, the treatment strives to help with
a wide range of emotional and psychiatric needs - such as people
working to cope with mental and physical illnesses, people who have
experienced life traumas and for those who are seeking personal
development and awareness.
“Art therapy gives form to feelings that may otherwise be
difficult or painful to express in words,” says Sue Wallingford,
LPC, assistant coordinator of art therapy at Naropa University.
“Feelings can be disguised in images, and therefore be less
threatening.”
Another important element of art therapy is that it’s a
primitive form of communication that often enables the therapist
to better understand what the client is trying to convey. “We
don’t always understand each other’s languages, but
we do understand each other’s images,” Wallingford says.
Art therapy emerged in the 1930s, predominantly founded by artist/educator
Margaret Naumburg. In the early 1900s, Naumburg lived in New York
City and shared an elite circle of creative friends that included
such luminaries as painter Georgia O'Keefe, poet John Marin and
film star Charlie Chaplin. Naumburg opened a children’s school,
which later became Walden School, and was a strong advocate for
learning methods that used right-brain creative expression versus
left-brain curriculum-based instruction. The young teacher believed
in the value of personal therapy, and many of her beliefs were inspired
by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and American psychiatrist Harry Stack
Sullivan.
Although the field of psychiatry in the ‘30s was strongly
opposed to art therapy, Naumburg devoted her life to establishing
this form of treatment as an effective technique to uncover and
heal the unconscious. She later taught at New York University, where
she began art therapy instruction at the undergraduate level.
Art therapists work in a vast array of environments, from private
offices to meeting rooms, and in many different facilities, including
medical and psychiatric hospitals, prisons, outpatient centers,
residential treatment centers, hospice centers, schools and pain
clinics. The therapy can be used to address conditions ranging from
anxiety disorders and insomnia to cancer.
For example, art therapy can help cancer patients find encouragement
and an understanding of their illness. “Cancer patients make
art to express feelings about their diagnosis, find distraction
from pain and express hope for healing,” says Laura Scott,
director of General Cancer Services at QuaLife Wellness Center in
Denver. “Art therapy can be a method to find some resolution,
peace and come to terms with cancer.”
Janet Dreifus, who has stage four breast cancer, says art therapy
dramatically changed her life. Dreifus admits she’s always
had a sink-or-swim mentality, and when faced with cancer, she plunged
into a nearly inescapable despair. Through her art therapy painting,
she says, “I felt my own life force begging me to chose life
over death.”
In art therapy sessions, clients are offered a wide variety of
art materials and the client’s artwork, which can range from
being chaotic and indiscernible to well-formed, intriguing, even
beautiful, becomes an important springboard for therapeutic discussion.
Wallingford says that all art is self-portrait, and there is never
one formula that is used for all people. “You work with where
the client is at,” she says.
Symbolic metaphor is common in art therapy and often used as a
diagnostic tool. Images such as missing or distorted body parts,
houses expelling smoke or fire, or volcanoes, can be important signals
to therapists and indicate problems such as abuse, anger or depression.
After seeing what the clients create, art therapists then follow
through with helping clients revisit trauma, and work through their
problems.
Art therapy is often referred to as “isomorphic” when
art is a reflection of the psyche. We are reminded of expressionistic
artist Vincent Van Gogh, whose brilliant colors, coarse brushwork
and intense images in such paintings as The Starry Night seem to
vividly reflect some of his inner turmoil and emotional anguish.
Wallingford remembers counseling a woman who had a paranoid schizophrenic
disorder, and had been a dancer as a young girl. When she introduced
the patient to art materials, the woman began to paint dancers.
“It elicited a memory that was very satisfying to her,”
Wallingford says, “and helped her connect to some reality
of the past.”
Local businesswoman Katherine Skaggs found art therapy to be especially
helpful with defusing anger and sadness revolving around issues
of grief and loss. “Art therapy has helped me get out of my
head, and move the stress, anger and depression through my body
and out into the world, so it can be released,” Skaggs says.
Therapists who specialize in art therapy may open a private practice,
or work in team settings with specialists such as doctors, nurses,
social workers and teachers. Sessions typically last one hour and
range in cost from about $75 to $100.
The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) regulates educational
and professional art therapy standards. To become an art therapist,
a minimum of 45 graduate semester credits is required for graduate
level art therapy education, in addition to a clinical experience
internship of about 700 hours. In some states and schools, such
as Naropa (one of the leading art therapy schools in the United
States), 60 graduate semester credits are required for licensure.
Art Therapy Resources, local and beyond
For more information on art therapy, see the following
resources:
- The Art Therapy Sourcebook by Cathy Malchiodi (McGraw-Hill,
1998)
- The Soul’s Palette by Cathy Malchiodi (Shambhala Press,
2002)
- www.arttherapy-co.org
(Art Therapy Association of Colorado)
- www.arttherapy.org
(The American Art Therapy Association)
- www.naropa.edu (Naropa
University)
The following art therapists are advertisers in Nexus:
- Lauri Benblatt, MA, LPC; 303-579-3004
- Sandra Laemmle, MA, ATR, LPAT; 303-772-1144
- Kim McMillin, RN, MA, MT-BC, LMFT; 303-666-9091, www.musicfamilytherapy.com
- Nora Swan-Foster, MA, ATR-BC; 303-440-4000, www.SwanFoster.com
- Tanya Vallianos, MA, LPC, Inner Sun Healing Arts Studio; 970-420-9504