Describes and discusses the Intern Studio Project, which consists of the provision of regular open studio time for art therapy interns in a state university graduate program. Psychological and artistic bases for the open studio approach are discussed, and include the relational approach, Hillman's essentialist paradigm, and series and context…

Records the responses of various members of the American Art Therapy Association to questions of the future direction of art therapy. The history of art as a communal experience in which all members of society participate is being lost, and the emphasis on therapy is minimizing the importance of artmaking. (JPS)

This case study describes three years of art therapy with a boy (age seven at the start) with borderline psychotic disorder. Changing themes over course of therapy are discussed and examples of child's work are included. Therapy was terminated after child had worked out fears and assumed an identity in which he could relate to peers in a normal…

Identifies and describes "clinification syndrome," process where art therapists gradually cease making art as clinical skills become primary career focus. Sees priorities of training programs and policies of American Art Therapy Association as contributing to this trend. Offers suggestions to anchor art therapy students and beginning professionals…

Sees art therapy as well-suited to needs of grieving women. Presents information on perinatal death and usefulness of group art therapy as intervention within framework of new psychology of women. Client art expressions illustrate how women have used art therapy to work through their grief and move toward deeper sense of personal empowerment and…

Fifteen adult female incest survivors participated in study which employed control group and two experimental groups. Participants rated significance of curative factors of catharsis, cohesion, and insight in their treatment. Results indicated that group art therapy, using series of structured tasks, increased value assigned to each of these…

Follows clinical course of older adult with dementing illness. Through patient's art therapy work, attempts to corroborate patient's behavior and performance with clinical and medical tests. This information is then related to present-day knowledge of brain dysfunction and impairment and to autopsy findings. Discusses role of art therapy for this…

Explores rape in terms of specific trauma usually experienced after rape: posttraumatic stress disorder, rape trauma syndrome, and permanent life changes. Explores ways in which art therapy can help rape victim engage in healing. Reviews study of one rape victim and current literature as example of life-altering effects of rape and importance of…

Tuberculosis is reappearing with increasing prevalence and presenting new treatment challenges. Art therapy, which partly originated in a tuberculosis sanatoria, again serves to assist patients in coping with their illness and confinement. Case examples illustrate aspects of the disease and related emotions and highlight the potential for such an…

Describes how art therapy can benefit patients hospitalized due to severe burns, who suffer psychological as well as physical trauma. Outlines the psychological phases, identifies how burn patients typically experience their healing process, and discusses how art therapy can assist the patient at each stage of the recovery process. (JPS)

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)

Discusses how the therapist's creative works (developed in response to the patient/therapist relationship and shared with the patient) promoted progress in treatment. Includes examples of the therapist's poetry and drawings produced during two years working in a drug and alcohol abuse day treatment program. (SR)

Explores high school students' poetic responses to artwork, showing how they give voice to concerns that are too touchy to openly discuss in the classroom but are a part of students' increasingly complex world. (SR)

Argues that poetry therapy is similar to the other creative arts therapies in its use of creative processes and products, and in its intrinsic positiveness, gentle indirectness, and breadth of appeal and application. Suggests that collaborative research efforts among creative arts therapists can lead to new understandings of the processes and…

Reports on the experiences of patients with laryngeal cancer who used art therapy. Drawing on 14 years of experience and 109 laryngeal cancer patients, describes treatment results and the case material substantiating the distinct role of art therapy. Provides an overview of the special medical and therapeutic needs of this group. (RJM)