Using Art in Therapy Safely and Effectively Lisa Mitchell, MFT, ATR, LPC www.innercanvas.com www.thearttherapystudio.com
Why Use Art in Therapy? 1. Create a felt sense experience that invites lasting change. • Beyond insights and words • Integration of senses
Why Use Art in Therapy? 2. To assist a client in broadening their range of emotional representation. Access to all three vehicles of interpretation • Physical • Visual • Verbal
Why Use Art in Therapy? 3. To teach and practice creative problem solving. “Think of all the things that could interfere with graduating from college.” “Pick one of the items and come up with as many solutions for that problem as possible.” Mastery of the creative process increases problem solving skills and emotional resiliency. Source: Mark Runco — Creativity researcher from Cal. State Fullerton .
Conditions that Support Creativity • Permissiveness • Absence of external criticism • Openness to new experience • Emphasis on internal control and individual autonomy • Flexibility • Integration of cognitive and affective dimensions
The Invitation • Have Fun! • Play! • Explore! • Experiment! • Be Free! • Know that you can’t do it wrong! • When in doubt, just get curious.
Creating a felt sense experience with art. Outside the box art invitation…….. What did you add or change? What resource did you have to use in order to implement the change in your art? How did it feel to do this?
Broaden the range of emotional representation Developmental continuum 1. Physical representation 2. Visual representation 3. Verbal representation We want to achieve access to all 3 ways of representing emotion.
Physical representation Emotions are represented with physical experiences, somatic complaints, rhythm and movement, etc. Goal : Take client from bodily sensations to images. • Increase visual representation and verbal representation • Encourage client to practice experiencing physical sensations and matching them with the visual representations that they have made.
Visual representation Emotional organization is in pictures, client is expressive in art and tends to make abstract art. However, client can also present with very rigid pictures — perfectionistic and concrete. Goal: Take client from pictures to verbal or physical rep. • increase verbal interaction with pictures • “process” meaning of pictures to increase emotional knowledge
Verbal representation Client is rational, auditory, highly verbal, may be concrete. Sometimes the client’s auditory processing speed is too fast and the client has no time to represent emotions in pictures. Goal: Increase visual representation of emotion • Decrease amount of talking and • Stay in metaphor or story when processing • Encourage client to allow picture to “stay” with them
Creative process and creative problem solving. What is the relationship? • generating options (brainstorming, no dead ends) • making new connections • meeting unknown with ease • seeing from multiple perspectives • Changing direction when things aren’t working out
Introducing Art in a session: As the therapist, you have to be as curious and open to the process as possible. If you don’t know, that’s probably a good thing.
Points to touch on: 1. Words don't do feelings justice, there's only so many ways to say sad...and that's just feelings you can name. 2. Feelings of overwhelm and confusion are really difficult to articulate and sort out. 3. Working with them non-verbally can help bring that which is inside, outside so that you can begin to see it differently and generate new solutions, new ways to interact with your feelings.
Points to touch on: 4. There’s no right way or wrong way. 5. You are not an art teacher and don’t give grades, just get excited about creative expression. 6. You don’t interpret art. Attaching meaning to symbols is not your job. Your job is to ask great questions so the client can discover his/her OWN meaning from the art.
Points to touch on: 7. The client is the boss of the finished product. Who gets to see, where it is stored. For particularly art injured clients: • Did I use the whole page? • Did I experiment with the medium? • Did I engage in the process (maybe with a little bit of play/fun)?
Introducing a general invitation: I have the idea that inviting you to do art might help us get to a place regarding _________ that we haven't been able to really access with words. There's so much about ___________that words and thought just don't help with. I wonder if you'd be willing to try to represent this thing ____________that we've been talking about by using color and line and texture.
Invitation continued: Remember, it doesn't have to look like ______________. And you don't even need to know what you are going to draw or paint before you start. In fact, if you let it be abstract, it could probably free you from expectations your art judge might have about what you create. You could start by just choosing a color and seeing what it would like to do on the page. (If the client gets stuck, and it appears they are "judging" or planning, you can remind them to just pick another color--whatever color looks good right now--and see what it would like to do on the page.)
Specific Art Invitations Mandala Directions: Draw a circle (in pencil) in the middle of a piece of paper. Invite the client to “draw what belongs inside and what belongs outside”. Doesn’t have to be concrete — colors and line are just fine.
Mandala Goals: • Increase sense of self • Boundary work • Mindfulness practice • Self- regulation • __________________
Specific Art Invitations Bridge Directions: Draw a bridge that connects one area to another area. When the client is done with the bridge say, “Now I invite you to put yourself on the PAGE somewhere.”
Bridge Goals • Assessment pre and post • Grief work • Goal setting • Transitions • _________________ • __________________ • __________________
Specific Art Invitations Follow the Leader Each person chooses a marker color. One person is the leader to start, the other person is the follower. When I say “Go”, you play scribble chase where the follower has to keep up and follow the leader. How fast, how slow how squiggly can you go? Then switch with each other on a new piece of paper.
Follow the Leader Goals • Communication • Identification of roles and/or rules • Rapport building • Practice new behaviors/communication • _______________________ • _______________________
Specific Art Invitations Box or container Invite the client to find things that belong on the inside (that need to be kept safe or contained). Invite the client to find things that belong on the outside (that will keep things safe or contained).
Specific Art Invitations Before and After Collage 1. Identify the event that you are working with. 2. Fold the page in half and invite the client to put images from magazines that show what it was like BEFORE the event on the left side. AFTER the even on the right side. 3. Have the client label the various images with words that tell the story.
Before and After Collage Goals • Identify and address grief and loss issues • Integrate trauma narrative • Affirm resiliency/validate suffering . • Reinforce recovery • _______________________ • _______________________
Specific Art Invitations My Territory Directions: If you were the queen or king of your ideal territory/kingdom, what would it look like? What would protect it? Who would be allowed in?
My Territory Goals • Validate strength • Identify needs and wants • Increase sense of empowerment • Practice articulating boundaries • Safe place
Specific Art Invitations Conversation in Color Directions: Each person gets one color per turn. You take turns adding to the conversation on the page. There is NO talking — talk through the art instead of with words. Don’t “hog” the whole conversation.
Conversation in Color Goals • establish rapport • increase non-verbal communication • practice empathy • assess and/or intervention for communication styles/patterns • strengthen family alliances.
Specific Art Invitations Scribble Drawing Directions: Pick a color that looks good. When I say “Go”, start to scribble. (You can even do it with your eyes closed.) When I say “Stop”, stop scribbling. Now as you look at your scribble, generate at least 3 different ideas that you could turn it into. You can turn the page to see it from different directions. You can decide to add lines, colors, shapes. It doesn’t have to be a SOMETHING, it could be abstract. Now pick one of those ideas and work with your scribble to turn it into that idea. Sink into it, allow things to be spontaneous. See what shows up.
Scribble Drawing Goals • rapport building • teach and practice creative problem solving skills • invite expression of unconscious material • _______________________ • _______________________ • _______________________
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