224 • Introduction to Art Therapy
an accident. On the DVD (C), you can see her helping Eddie as he learns how to paint hold-
ing a brush in his mouth (cf. DVD 7.2D for earlier stages of their work together).
People in rehabilitation do not always get better but often must, like Eddie, learn to live
with a condition that constricts their lives. Many suffer from progressive disorders, such as
multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Art therapy
is especially helpful in coping with chronic disease processes, since art can fill long, tedious
periods of time with creative activity, as well as helping patients to adjust as best they can.
Milton M., homebound for nine years with multiple sclerosis, “came alive” when a young art
therapist was able to engage him in a playful drawing dialogue (Robbins, 1980).
Art Therapy for Healing
The use of mental imagery to combat pain and disease is one of many interventions in the
increasingly popular realm of alternative or complementary medicine. Some visualization
techniques include drawing as well as mental imagery, as ways for those with cancer, for
example, to mobilize their immune systems. Most approaches to the use of imagery in heal-
ing are focused: the patient visualizes or draws his disease and his body’s efforts to fight it
(Achterberg, 2002). Art therapists have also worked in this area as well (Dreifuss-Katan,
1990; Lusebrink, 1990; Waller, 2007).
In a study presented at an imagery conference many years ago, a researcher asked sub-
jects to visualize their T-cells multiplying. He then asked them to draw what they had imag-
ined. The slides he showed of their blood—drawn before and after the art activity—were so
dramatically different that even a skeptic could not deny that creating images had somehow
helped to increase the number of “fighter” cells. It was a powerful demonstration of the heal-
ing potential of imagery, especially when linked with art.
Many uses of art for healing are not so directive, but however it is employed, the idea is
that making art can have a positive impact on the immune system—that creating affects not
only the psyche, but the soma as well. The field of psychoneuroimmunology^5 is in its infancy,
but findings so far are very encouraging. While I was revising this chapter, for example, a
Figure 10.7 Irene Rosner at Bellevue Hospital.