Art Therapy
Art therapy (also known as arts therapy) is a creative method of expression used as a therapeutic technique. Art therapy originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition.
Art therapy may focus on the creative art-making process itself, as therapy, or on the analysis of expression gained through an exchange of patient and therapist interaction. The psychoanalytic approach was one of the earliest forms of art psychotherapy. This approach employs the transference process between the therapist and the client who makes art. The therapist interprets the client’s symbolic self-expression as communicated in the art and elicits interpretations from the client.[1] Analysis of transference is no longer always a component.
Current art therapy includes a vast number of other approaches such as: Person-Centered, Cognitive, Behavior, Gestalt, Narrative, Adlerian, Family (Systems) and more. The tenets of art therapy involve humanism, creativity, reconciling emotional conflicts, fostering self-awareness, and personal growth.
Although art therapy is a relatively young therapeutic discipline, its roots lie in the use of the arts in the ‘moral treatment’ of psychiatric patients in the late 18th century, this moral treatment, Susan Hogan argues, “arose out of utilitarian philosophy and also from a non-conformist religious tradition”, and in a re-evaluation of the art of non-western art and of the art of untrained artists and of the insane[clarification needed].
Art therapy as a profession began in the mid-20th century, arising independently in English-speaking and European countries. The early art therapists who published accounts of their work acknowledged the influence of aesthetics, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, rehabilitation, early childhood education, and art education, to varying degrees, on their practices.
The British artist Adrian Hill coined the term art therapy in 1942. Hill, recovering from tuberculosis in a sanatorium, discovered the therapeutic benefits of drawing and painting while convalescing. He wrote that the value of art therapy lay in “completely engrossing the mind (as well as the fingers)…releasing the creative energy of the frequently inhibited patient”, which enabled the patient to “build up a strong defence against his misfortunes”. He suggested artistic work to his fellow patients. That began his art therapy work, which was documented in 1945 in his book, Art Versus Illness.[9]
Edward Adamson, “the father of art therapy in Britain”.
The artist Edward Adamson, demobilised after WW2, joined Adrian Hill to extend Hill’s work to the British long stay mental hospitals. Other early proponents of art therapy in Britain include E. M. Lyddiatt, Michael Edwards, Diana Raphael-Halliday and Rita Simon. The British Association of Art Therapists was founded in 1964.
U.S. art therapy pioneers Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer began practicing at around the same time as Hill. Naumburg, an educator, asserted that “art therapy is psychoanalytically oriented” and that free art expression “becomes a form of symbolic speech which…leads to an increase in verbalization in the course of therapy.” Edith Kramer, an artist, pointed out the importance of the creative process, psychological defenses, and artistic quality, writing that “sublimation is attained when forms are created that successfully contain…anger, anxiety, or pain.” Other early proponents of art therapy in the United States include Elinor Ulman, Robert “Bob” Ault, and Judith Rubin. The American Art Therapy Association was founded in 1969.
National professional associations of art therapy exist in many countries, including Brazil, Canada, Finland, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania, South Korea, and Sweden. International networking contributes to the establishment of standards for education and practice.
Diverse perspectives exist on history of art therapy, which complement those that focus on the institutionalization of art therapy as a profession in Britain and the United States.