Creative Arts Therapy

Can't sing, can't dance, can't draw: How leisure constraints and negotiations impact midlife women's participation in the creative arts

by Debra Ullmann

The efficacy of dance movement therapy group on improvement of quality of life: A randomized controlled trial

by Iris Bräuninger

Bräuninger, I. (In Press). The Arts in Psychotherapy. Accepted Manuscript, Available online 29 March 2012. doi:10.1016/j.aip.2012.03.008

Abstract
This study examines the treatment outcome of a 10 weeks dance movement therapy intervention on Quality... more Abstract
This study examines the treatment outcome of a 10 weeks dance movement therapy intervention on Quality of life (QOL). The multicentered study used a between subject-design with pre-test, post-test, and six months follow-up test. 162 participants who suffered from stress were randomly assigned to the dance movement therapy treatment group (TG) (n= 97) and the wait-listed control group (WG) (65). The World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire 100 (WHOQOL-100) and Munich Life Dimension List were used in both groups at all three measurement points. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that dance movement therapy participants in all QOL dimensions always more than the WG. In the short term, they significantly improved in the Psychological domain (p>.001, WHOQOL; p>.01, Munich Life Dimension List), Social relations/life (p>.10, WHOQOL; p>.10, Munich Life Dimension List), Global value (p>.05, WHOQOL), Physical health (p>.05, Munich Life Dimension List), and General life (p>.10, Munich Life Dimension List). In the long term, dance movement therapy significantly enhanced the psychological domain  (p>.05, WHOQOL; p>.05, Munich Life Dimension List), Spirituality (p>.10, WHOQOL), and General life (p>.05, Munich Life Dimension List). Dance movement therapy is effective in the short- and long-term to improve QOL.
Keywords: Dance therapy, Dance movement therapy, Research, Quality of Life (QOL), Randomized controlled trial, Treatment outcome and Efficacy.

Content Analysis of MUSTHP-L's First Year (No graphics)

by Dirk Cushenbery

Adaptation of Imagery Rehearsal Therapy for nightmares in children: a brief report (2009)

by Tore Nielsen

This study investigated the effectiveness of a psychotherapeutic treatment for nightmares that was adapted for 6- to... more This study investigated the effectiveness of a psychotherapeutic treatment for nightmares that was adapted for 6- to 11-year-old children from imagery rehearsal therapy. Ten child-mother dyads took part in a 3-session, 8-week treatment protocol. Participation in the study (contact with clinician, keeping a prospective dream log) was associated with decreases unpleasant dreams frequency, nightmare distress, and manifest anxiety. Providing educational information about nightmares did contribute to this positive effect. Results also suggest that drawing modified versions of nightmares for 1 month was associated with further reductions in nightmare distress and anxiety, but with no changes in unpleasant dreams frequency. Follow-ups at 3 and 6 months posttreatment suggest that the intervention had maintained effects.

Effective Counseling Skills: the practical wording of therapeutic statements and processes

by Daniel Keeran MSW

by Daniel Keeran, MSW, RMHC-S

Also used as a counselor training and examination manual, this book gives away the secrets of effective counselors and... more Also used as a counselor training and examination manual, this book gives away the secrets of effective counselors and therapists. The practical skills and concepts distilled in the present form, are the contributions of countless colleagues and clients who over the years have challenged the creative energies of the author. Effective Counseling Skills is designed to achieve the primary purpose of making counseling skills public knowledge in the belief that the health of society is improved when counseling is known to the most people. The style of the manual is conversational with numerous examples of the wording of therapeutic statements.

Major topic areas include an explanation of the client's personal history, suicide prevention, how to begin and deepen the counseling process, helping the client learn healthy ways of relating, moving the client from childhood to maturity, skills for healing grief, and working with couples facing issues of conflict, infidelity, addiction, and other common problems. Practical ways to build and manage a counseling practice are presented. A detailed index and table of contents make the volume easy to use as a guide for both the practitioner as well as people seeking help.

See this news release entitled "Mental Health News: Library Acquisitions Add Counseling Text To Collections" http://prlog.org/11741730

The title is also available through interlibrary loan in the US and Canada from major public and university libraries including : Howard University, University of Hawaii at Hilo, University of Manitoba, Vancouver Public Library (Canada), Dallas Theological Seminary, Bogazici Univ Library – Istanbul (Turkey), San Diego Public Library, Dixie State College of Utah, University of Louisville, University of Southern California, Texas A&M University, University of Missouri--Columbia, University of Wisconsin-Madison General Library System, Columbia University Libraries, University of Massachusetts at Boston, Hunter College Wexler Library – New York, NY, Trinity International University, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis.

View text at http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Counseling-Skills-therapeutic-statements/dp/1442177993

View article here http://ezinearticles.com/?Effective-Counseling-Skills---The-Practical-Wording-of-Therapeutic-Statements-and-Processes&id=4878216

Go here for a video presentation from the author http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aodrYDAo9xk

Altered books in art therapy with adolescents

by Gioia Chilton

An Online Art Exchange Group: 14 Secrets for a Happy Artist

by Gioia Chilton

The Affect of Creative Art

by Ayla Michelle Demir

Psychoanalysis & Art: Unconscious Automatic Watercolour Painting and Analysis

by Ayla Michelle Demir

Response/Ability: Imagining a Critical Race Feminist Paradigm for the Creative Arts Therapies

by Nisha Sajnani

Published (in press) in the Arts in Psychotherapy: Special Issue on the Creative Arts Therapies and Social Justice.

Tanz- und Bewegungstherapie [Dance movement therapy]

by Iris Bräuninger

Frey B., & Bräuninger, I. (2009). Tanz- und Bewegungstherapie [Dance movement therapy]. In H. Boeker, D. Teichmann & D. Hell (Eds.), Teilstationäre Behandlung von Depressionen, Angst- und Zwangskrankheiten. (pp. 62 – 69). Stuttgart, Germany: Schattauer.

Tanz- und Bewegungstherapie zählt mittlerweile zum festen Bestandteil in vielen tagesklinisch-psychiatrischen... more Tanz- und Bewegungstherapie zählt mittlerweile zum festen Bestandteil in vielen tagesklinisch-psychiatrischen Einrichtungen im deutschsprachigen und internationalen Raum (Bräuninger 2000a, Bräuninger 2000b, Heber, 1994; Bräuninger & Blumer, 2004; Hölter & Gunther, 2006). „Tanztherapie versteht sich als die psychotherapeutische Verwendung von Tanz und Bewegung zur Integration von körperlichen, emotionalen und kognitiven Prozessen des Menschen. Sie wird auch als künstlerische Therapie definiert, die Tanz und Bewegung als Medium zur Persönlichkeitserweiterung nutzt" (BTD, 2003). Teilnehmende im stationären, teilstationären und ambulanten Setting äußern sich meist sehr positiv über die Wirkung. Sie würden durch  Tanztherapie eine Verbesserung ihrer Stimmungslage erleben und sich physisch und psychisch gestärkt fühlen. Sie würden sich entspannt fühlen und emp-fänden sich gestärkt in ihrem Selbstvertrauen und weniger niedergeschlagen. In Zeiten evidenz-basierter Therapien und des zunehmenden Drucks seitens der Kostenträger steigt der Bedarf nach wis-senschaftlicher Fundierung einer Therapie. Die erste Hälfte dieses Kapitels konzentriert sich deshalb auf die Darstellung von Studien zur Wirksamkeit der Tanz- und Bewegungstherapie in der Behand-lung von Menschen mit Affekterkrankungen. In der zweiten Hälfte des Kapitels werden Ausgangsla-ge, Ziele, Methoden und Interventionen der Tanz- und Bewegungstherapie in der Tagesklinik für Af-fektkranke beschrieben. Ein Fallbeispiel illustriert die praktische Arbeit.
Nachfolgend werden tanz- und bewegungstherapeutische Forschungs- und Literaturarbeiten zur ambulanten, teilstationären und stationären Behandlung von Menschen mit Affekterkrankungen aufgeführt. Zahlreiche wissenschaftliche Studien überprüfen die Wirksamkeit der Tanz- und Bewe-gungstherapie, wobei bislang noch nicht der spezifisch teilstationäre Rahmen in Bezug auf Patientin-nen mit Angst-, Depressions- oder Zwangssymptomatik erforscht wurde. Aus diesem Grunde werden nachfolgend Studien aufgeführt, die sich allgemein die Überprüfung der Wirksamkeit von Tanz- und Bewegungstherapie bei Menschen mit Affekterkrankung zum Ziel gemacht haben.

What play therapists do within the therapeutic relationship of humanistic/non-directive play therapy

by Dr Sally Robinson

Pastoral Care in Education (2011) 29(3) pp. 207-220
Copyright prevents published version being uploaded. Will send in response to individual request.

Play therapists are increasingly being employed in schools, yet there is confusion among many health, education and... more Play therapists are increasingly being employed in schools, yet there is confusion among many health, education and social care practitioners about the role of play therapists. This paper explains how play therapists position themselves and what they do through an examination of the therapeutic relationship between the therapist and child. It discusses the core conditions of congruence, acceptance and empathy with reference to recent research. Play therapists vary their practice in terms of verbal or non-verbal interaction, the tools in their playroom and how they physically place themselves. This paper argues for placing an emphasis on the non-verbal mirroring of the child, the incorporation of expressive media such as paint, clay and sand into the play room and the positioning of the therapist within the play space.

Gender, Knowldge and Art: Feminist Standpoint Theory synthesised with Arts-Based research in the study of domestic violence

by Jamie Bird

A work in progress that develops ideas initially presented at Vital Signs, Manchester University, September 2010. Please contact the author if you wish to reference or quote from this work in progress.

This paper sets out the ongoing development of an arts-based methodology for the documentation, representation and... more This paper sets out the ongoing development of an arts-based methodology for the documentation, representation and dissemination of women’s experiences of domestic violence. Of particular concern is the ways in which an arts-based approach to the acquisition of expressions of lived experience has the potential to provide access to multi-sensory and embodied knowledge that words alone might struggle to articulate. The possibility of using the arts to generate different kinds of knowledge would seem to fit with the concept of 'strong objectivity' as articulated in Sandra Harding's defence of feminist standpoint epistemologies and with David MacDougall’s identification of ‘stereoscopic imagination’ within film-based ethnography. The place of imagination in feminist standpoint epistemology’s central concept of beginning thought in the lives of others would also appear to justify the synthesis of standpoint and creative research methodologies. Bringing together these ideas also provides a way of thinking about the gendered researcher.

Children’s narratives of healing in contexts of escape from political conflict

by Athena Madan

Book chapter: Children’s narratives of healing in contexts of escape from political conflict. In P. Jones (Ed.), Drama as Therapy Vol. 2: Clinical Work and Contexts. London: Routledge.

Arc-en-ciel 2: Saisir les étoiles (translated as ‘Playing with Rainbows 2: Reach for the stars’) was a twelve-week... more Arc-en-ciel 2: Saisir les étoiles (translated as ‘Playing with Rainbows 2: Reach for the stars’) was a twelve-week group programme conducted with child refugee war survivors (des enfants réfugiés témoins de la guerre) and their classmates at a French-speaking elementary school (École) in a major Canadian city. The group aimed to provide a space for the children to process their experiences of war trauma and mourn their multiple losses. It also aimed to address intercultural conflict resolution, with emphasis on the subjects of belonging, collaboration and safety in groups. The group ran for twelve weeks, meeting once weekly, for two hours: one hour focussing on individual projects, and another hour on collaborative group work. Three co-therapists facilitated the programme, with about six children each per group.

This chapter will look at trauma from a perspective that acknowledges the historical, cultural and racial assumptions relevant to these child survivors of war. I will also question the traditional way trauma seems to be framed in clinical mental health, as a system of symptoms and deficits, and suggest ways in which systemic contexts can be integrated in that frame. Last, I will focus on three vignettes illustrating the use of drama and art in these groups that help facilitate positive therapeutic outcome, and discuss my own reflections upon the processes of projection, symbol, metaphor, and witnessing inherent in the work.

‘Ma mère et moi’: Creative arts in a group treatment with mothers and their children.

by Athena Madan

Book chapter: ‘Ma mère et moi’: Creative arts in a group treatment with mothers and their children. In S. Brooke (Ed.), The Use of the Creative Therapies With Survivors of Domestic Violence Populations. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. (2008)

Ma mère et moi (“My mom and me”) is a twelve-week group therapy programme at a Francophone community health clinic in... more Ma mère et moi (“My mom and me”) is a twelve-week group therapy programme at a Francophone community health clinic in southwest Ontario for children and their mothers who have experienced woman abuse in their homes. The group meets once weekly for one and a half hours for therapeutic activity and discussion. Facilitated by three co-facilitators, the group is conducted on two levels: In dyads, within the larger context of the group, and in subgroups, according to age / peer group.

This chapter outlines specific programme objectives with review of applications, considerations, and rationale in planning and facilitating group work using drama and art as modalities of treatment for abused mothers and their children. Following material generated specifically from one series of sessions with preadolescent girls aged 11-13, I will discuss intervention wherein both mother and child may explore and establish a framework for greater attunement and reconnection within their relationship as it has been affected by conjugal violence. Specifically, I will discuss Harvey’s Family Dynamic Play (Harvey, 1983, 1990, 1994a, 1994b, 1997, 2000) approach in working with a mother-preadolescent aged dyad.

Music and Reconciliation in Colombia: Opportunities and Limitations of Songs Composed by Victims and Ex-Combatants

by María Elisa Pinto García

Presented at the "Symposium Music-Conflict-Transformation 2011", organized by the Sociology of Arts group of the Exeter University, May 9-10, 2011, Exeter, United Kingdom.

Colombia is a war-torn society where an important number of conflict-related songs have been composed by victims and... more Colombia is a war-torn society where an important number of conflict-related songs have been composed by victims and ex-combatants at the grassroots level. In order to develop a better understanding of the scope of music as a tool for reconciliation, this thesis examines some of these songs and analyzes the extent to which this music may or may not contribute to reconciliation in both, the audience and the composers. To do so, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the composers, and two focal group exercises were organized in order to analyze the impact of these songs on the listeners. A group of victims listened to an ex-combatant’s song, and a group of ex-combatants listened to a song composed by victims.

The results of the analysis indicate that these songs entail opportunities but also limitations regarding reconciliation. On one hand, they have constituted storytelling tools that contribute to the historical memory of the conflict in Colombia in a way that is accessible for all types of public. In addition, the process of composition by victims and ex-combatants and the musical activity itself embody an outlet through which composers release feelings and redefine identities. Moreover, in the audience made up of victims and ex-combatants unrelated to the composers, there were some expressions of sympathy, understanding, and trust. However, the research shows contrary effects as well. Some of the listeners expressed neither positive thoughts nor feelings towards reconciliation. In addition, the content of some songs may enlarge differences between enemies or may be manipulated with propaganda purposes. The results indicate that music may embody several opportunities but also limitations as a tool for reconciliation.

Elemental Movement: A Somatic Approach to Movement Education

by Rae Johnson

Rap, Recidivism and the Creative Self: A Popular Music Programme for Young Offenders in Detention

by Sarah Baker

Co-authored with Shane Homan (Monash). Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 10, Number 4, September 2007 , pp. 459-476

Popular music is increasingly being viewed by local, state and national governments as a useful form of creative... more Popular music is increasingly being viewed by local, state and national governments as a useful form of creative activity for at-risk youth both within and outside young offender institutions. This paper examines a music programme operating for a group of predominantly black youth within one North American detention centre, and considers the range of benefits observed in fostering individual creativity, self-esteem and social communication. Popular music programmes - in this case, rapping and basic music sequencing and composition - offer a highly practical and direct means of allowing youth offenders to express a particular form of creativity in connection with their existing music and cultural interests. This paper considers the relative success of one programme and the implications for drawing upon hip-hop music, with its themes of deviance and resistance, as a creative vehicle within a broader environment of 'offender to citizen' discourses for the youth involved.

"D'un monde a l'autre: Art brut and die Collageanimationsfilme des Lausanner CERY-Spitals"

by Suzanne Buchan

Published (in German) in in: Home Stories. Neue Studien zu Film und Kino in der Schweiz. Marburg: Schüren-Verlag, 2001. ISBN: 3894725044

HOME STORIES Table of Contents (German): more

HOME STORIES Table of Contents (German): http://www.gbv.de/du/services/agi/F9BDF97922B28A52C125703E0053ECD5/420000146083

Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3894725044?tag=openlibr-20

Das Interesse an dem, was wir heute als Outsider Art oder Art brut kennen, ist seit einiger Zeit stetig angewachsen  – allein in der Schweiz gibt es 9 Sammlungen von Gemälden, Zeichnungen, Collagen, Stickereien, Plastiken und Tagebüchern.  Ursprünglich waren es vor allem Ärzte, die in der zweiten Hälfte des letzten Jahrhunderts begannen sich mit dem Kunstschaffen von geisteskranken Patienten zu beschäftigten.  Ihre Schriften hatten jedoch weder spürbaren Einfluss innerhalb der Psychiatrie, noch bewirkten sie etwas in Bezug auf die Rezeption der Art brut. Trotz Publikationen wie Genio e Follia von Cesare Lombroso (1864), Walther Morgenthalers Buch über Adolf Wölfli (1921), oder Hans Prinzhorns Standardwerk Bildnerei der Geisteskranken (1921), wurde die These, dass bildende Kunst und die Schöpfungen schizophrener Patienten sich gegenseitig als Konzepte ausschliessen, lange nicht entkräftet. Inzwischen ist diese Haltung durch eine kunstwissenschaftlich ausgerichtete Neubewertung ersetzt worden. Die vereinzelten Filmarbeiten von psychisch kranken Menschen wurden bislang allerdings kaum beachtet. Denn auch der Einbezug des Mediums Film in die Kunsttherapie blieb lange aus.

Animationsfilm kann eine Alternative zur alltäglichen physischen Erfahrung darstellen. Die alltäglichen psysischen und psychischen Erfahrungen sind von Mensch zu Mensch natürlich anders. Ein Extremfall ist die erlebte Welt von Geisteskranken: Die inneren Bilder, die sie in einem von psychotischen Schüben, Schizophrenie und depressiver Stimmung geprägten Alltag begleiten, verlangen nach einer geeigneten Ausdrucksform, die diese verzerrte, fragmentarische und oft abstrakt anmutende Wahrnehmung visuell umsetzen kann. Kunst von schizophrenen Patienten und Patientinnen ist oft von graphischem und metaphorischem Reichtum geprägt: Ziffern, Figuren, geometrische Formen, Inskriptionen und hermetische graphische Weltbilddarstellungen oder klaustrophobisch gefüllte Blätter. Als eine Technik von vielen bietet die Collagetechnik zudem die Möglichkeit, vorhandenes Kulturgut anderer Kunstschaffender oder aus der Populärkultur in Form von Zeichnungen, Textpassagen und Fotos in die eigene Produktion miteinzubeziehen. Diese Technik ist auch sonst oft die erste Begegnung vieler Menschen, die sich mit dem Animationsfilm zu beschäftigen beginnen.

Eine aussergewöhnliche Anwendung fand das kreative Potential des Animationsfilms in der französischen Schweiz. 1962 wurde an der psychiatrischen Universitätsklinik Lausanne (CERY) ein Projekt ins Leben gerufen, das durch den Einsatz des Films die Möglichkeiten dieser Form von Beschäftigungstherapie auf einmalige Art und Weise erweitern sollte. Dessen Zweck war die Förderung der Zusammenarbeit zwischen zurückgezogenen schizophrenen Langzeitpatienten, die durch eine Beteiligung an Filmprojekten mit anderen Menschen in Kontakt kommen sollten. Unter der Betreuung des Schweizer Filmemachers Ernest (Nag) Ansorge wurden so 13 Animationsfilme geschaffen. Entgegen den Erwartungen der Klinikleitung entstanden keine Filmdokumente über den äusseren Klinikalltag der Patientinnen und Patienten, sondern ein künstlerischer Prozess wurde ausgelöst, der bei ihnen poetische und literarische Ambitionen weckte.