Mental health professionals who both provide services and effectively make use of them to address their own emotional or psychiatric challenges are called wounded healers. Despite the potential benefits of lived experience, these professionals often must contend with institutions and systems that are discriminatory. The authors use life-writing to…

This article is a reprint of the viewpoint which originally appeared in 2004 (volume 21(3), 163-167). It is a memoir of a horrific experience, expressed through drawings. The author takes the readers with him on his very personal frightening journey of quintuple bypass surgery. He not only tells the readers, he shows them how making art became a…

Relation of an art therapist's personal story concerning her struggle to overcome endometriosis, and how her artwork has played a vital role in coping with the disease. Illustrated with a chronology of artwork produced during a bout with the illness. (JPS)

Recounts personal experiences concerning art therapy as both a lymphoma patient and an artist. A few selections from two periods in the hospital illustrate physical and emotional pain. (JPS)

Illustrates the relationship between art therapy, spirituality, and recovery supported by the philosophy of Alcoholic Anonymous, and offers a model in which art therapy can be used in treatment programs to facilitate spiritual recovery from addiction. Discusses personal experiences related to the use of art therapy for assisting in addiction…

A therapist recounts her experiences working in a large AIDS long-term care facility in New York City, and the value of art therapy in helping infected people deal with the unpredictable effects of the virus. (JPS)

Recounts experiences with art therapy as utilized by the staff of an AIDS and HIV-infection research clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, to deal with their own anxiety and depression about dealing with the disease. The staff art program began due to the efforts of the director's sensitivity to the possibility of burnout among the staff. (JPS)

In this narrative, the author relates her experiences as an art therapist of color, and describes the impact of cultural beliefs and values on her life from childhood, through education, and into the workplace. She contends that incidents of conflicts between cultures in the community, in education, and in the workplace reflect the continuing need…