Adlerian Art Therapy Dissertation

Throughout the centuries, there is no definite definition for art therapy. It is hard to define art therapy because of the broad populations that art therapy can be integrated in. Many art therapy pioneers concentrated in different areas and they developed their own theories within their concentration. Therefore, it is hard to define what art therapy is. According to the American Art Therapy Association (AATA, 2014), art therapy is a professional field uses art-making in a therapeutic setting with populations who experience illness, trauma and for those who seek personal development.

“This is where you can find your soul, if you dare.” (Anderson, pg 10) This belief comes from the mind of the Melinda, the progantists, art teacher, Mr. Freeman. Art is truly a door to the mind of an individual, showing things that people aren’t able to say. It shows through images and colors what many people aren’t able to express in words, events and thoughts speaking through the medium. Art is growing as a use of therapy to heal and tell. Psychologists analyze their patients art at a psychological level, interpreting the image into words. One of the theories in art therapy, which is seen throughout “Speak”, is the idea that unconscious thoughts are expressed in an image. (Irvings)These images then can be explained rationally. Melinda’s three major art images, the half dead trees, turkey bone, and cubism represent this theory.

The thought of art is more than what you see it is what you feel and what you learn from looking at it. Art can heal the soul and create and new outlook on images we may see every day. Sadly, we may not always see the art in things, pieces, or, humans.

Art as a therapeutic method was my primary focus throughout the psychology program at Ryerson University. I am familiar with much research regarding art therapy for mental disorders such as depression

Art therapy is a Multi-Functional Psychological therapy that helps the mental mind in connecting things that are disconnected like a patient with alzheimer's where the patient's medial temporal lobe that’s the part of the brain that controls memory. The medial temporal lobe is vital in the brain because that is where the brain recollects the memories and stores them. When you get older the lobe gets weaker in which causes it to disconnect thus causing “memory loss” or dementia. In art therapy we like to cause a visual reconnection of that nerve so in which a patient then can remember more but in a visual stance as in some people like to look at photographs to visually which allows memories to reconnect. These programs are put into place to help anyone with mental issues they are put in place just to help.

Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a girl named Melinda who is starting her freshman year of high school with a memory that has continuously haunted her since the summer. Melinda was involved in a rape and has been emotionally and physically affected by this traumatic incident. With her friends and family having no knowledge of what happened, Melinda is forced to find her own way to cope with it. In the novel Speak, Anderson shows the readers that art creates a feeling of personal fulfillment, self-discovery and relaxation by using point of view and symbolism.

According to the test I took, the top 3 careers I would be great at based on my personality was Art Therapist, Area, ethnic, and cultural studies teacher, postsecondary, also Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses.

I found the article  "The expanding reach of art therapy: though it's a relatively new approach to mental health treatment, art therapy is gaining traction and making a difference in people's lives." on the Gale Group website.

Like everything else, there is a romanticized idea of art. A balcony overlooking Los Angeles/ New York/ Italy/ France/ Greece. A misunderstood starving artist conveying their emotions by painting on a canvas. The underlying aspect is emotion. Art is a way to express emotions if you look at the work of Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso what you will see is subconscious emotions on a canvas. Art making is hypothesized to involve bilateral stimulation, engaging the integrating and planning functions of the prefrontal cortex to sequence narratives using left brain functions. Slowly evolving to being used by psychoanalysts and art therapy becoming a profession. This essay will show how art plays an important factor in psychological

Art has been my passion since childhood. Spending three years within the teaching environment was where I thought I belonged. Before receiving my Bachelor of Fine Art in painting from Metropolitan State University of Denver a personal experience that connects to my reservation and adoption into the Clinical Mental Health program was one of tragic loss. On January 9, 2002, my son’s life abruptly ended and during the grieving process I started expressing myself through painting. In searching for serenity, individual counseling became enhance. Finding a therapist with a background in marriage and family/art therapy became a visual depiction, a self-portrait symbolizing my external realities and internal emotions immediately following his suicide. Driven to face an extremely irritating and stressful paradox to the best of my ability while trying to keep the constitutional need to endure my life as fully as possible.

Roger’s traditional person-centered therapy is perhaps the greatest example of “talk therapy” as there is not any homework, specific techniques, or behavior to be changed. Instead, the success of the therapy lies in the process and letting clients experience this process as fully as possible. Therefore, it may be surprising that Natalie Roger’s person-centered expressive arts therapy has shifted away from traditional verbal means of expression to more creative means. According to Sommers-Flanagan, through mediums such as movement, drawing, painting, music, writing and improvisation “clients peel away the layers of defense and find their true nature” (2007). Expressive art therapy is not concerned with the end product (client’s do not create a piece to hang on the wall) but rather the process of using art to delve into a client’s pain, rage, or grief is the goal. Therefore, just as in Roger’s person-centered therapy the process is the focal point but the mediums used are quite different. Through these mediums clients find other ways to go inward, other ways to speak. Like her father’s person-centered therapy, Natalie Roger’s expressive arts therapy is nondirective and lets client’s lead the process and trusts them to find the modalities they can learn from (Sommers-Flanagan, 2007).

Understand, interpret, direct. This statement is an oversimplification of sorts, but defines the essence of Adlerian psychotherapy. From this minimal overview of Adlerian theory, we can begin to elaborate and explore the intricacies of individual psychology. Adlerians are concerned with understanding the unique and private beliefs and strategies of the individual (private logic and mistaken notions) that we create in childhood, and which serve as a reference for attitudes, private views of self, others and the world, and behavior (lifestyle). Therapeutic work with clients involves short-term and intensive work to increase social interest, to encourage a greater sense of responsibility for behavior, and to support behavioral change.

Art therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem. A goal in art therapy is to improve or restore a client’s functioning and his or her sense of personal well-being.

Expressive arts therapy is the use of art modalities, creative process, and aesthetic experience in a therapeutic context. It is a therapy of the imagination (McNiff, 1992). Effective communication is an essential element in therapeutic relationships and, although verbal language is the most conventional means of conveying information, other forms can convey just as much as words. The arts are an alternative form of communication that has recently received recognition for their value in therapeutic settings. There is a long well-established connection between the arts and psychology. Expressive arts therapy builds on a natural, complimentary relationship between the two disciplines. As a formal therapy, this form is relatively new with its

Western traditions narrowly define art as a market-oriented specialized discipline (Levine & Levine, 2004). When art is used therapeutically, content and meaning take priority over mechanics and technicalities.