How Art Therapy Works

There is a wide range of treatment models in art therapy that are rooted in a variety of established schools of psychological theory and practice. Treatment approaches are shaped by the training and theoretical psychological orientation of the therapist and the goals of the particular sessions. How a session will unfold also has to do with the present needs of the client.

The psychoanalytic, the behavioral and the humanistic schools of psychology and the subgroups contained within these schools have greatly influenced art therapy practice.

Psychoanalytic theory was the dominant theory in art therapy practice during the formative years in the 1940’s’s through the early 1960’s. The psychoanalytic school includes Freudian and Jungian schools of thought.

Jungian Art Therapy
Carl Jung influenced the practice of art therapy with his respect for visual imagery and the profound psychological meaning he found inherent in artwork. Jungian art therapists may suggest art as a means to explore dreams and archetypal images in search of personal meaning.

Humanistic
The humanistic branch includes existential, gestalt, Rogerian, transpersonal and the integration of Eastern thought in psychology.
A gestalt art therapist would focus on increasing awareness of individuals in the here and now.

Archetypal art therapy
A post-Jungian archetypal therapist would be less likely to translate an art image into a concept but would instead imaginatively explore the metaphors within an image. First named by James Hillman in 1970, archetypal therapy emphasizes staying with an image through imaginative exploration-the image includes the artwork, the client’s behavior in art making, and the therapist’s interactions. Archetypal psychology as represented n the work of Carl Jung, James Hillman, Mary Watkins, Patricia Berry and David Miller involves stepping away from the interpretation of symbols and archetypes toward the use of metaphor in understanding one’s imagery. “Listening” to the voice of the image through description and active imagination helps to deepen the qualities of the imagery and their meaning.

Content last modified on Jan 13, 2011