Re: About this Forum

Sorry some posts you liked were deleted in the process of relaunching. It is good you managed to print them before we made a fresh start. Thank you for your valuable participation in this discussion.
To formulate an answer to your question on the use of the arts in psychotherapy and how that would differ from art therapy, I must preface it with my understanding of the creative process as a natural phenomenon, one that unfolds better while embedded into the commonplace of everyday life. The artificial recreation of the creative process in a clinical setting, although usually necessary to serve the needs of clients in treatment, often leads to stilted and compromised situations. Art therapists, thanks to their ongoing experience with their own creative process, are well-suited to successfully export it from their own art studio to a more hostile environment.
That being said, there are many different emphases to the practice of art therapy, some shifting away from an immersion in the creative process and using the art product as a starting point to verbal therapy. The latter would be more like what you refer to the arts in psychotherapy.
The main thing to remember is that the professional boundaries were established for political purposes and do not necessarily correspond to significant differences in practice. Professional areas have a purpose, and need to be understood, but a more fundamental question needs to be asked at any level of training : Is this professional intimately familiar with the creative process he/she is using in work with clients?
Martin Perdoux, MAAT, ATR
Behavior OnLine Consulting Editor

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