Art Therapy - Teaching Psychology

Places We Practice • 239

If such people get lost in the shuffle, they may end up in shelters or even prisons, where they
may also be helped by art therapy.
People in all kinds of crises—personal, medical, social, economic—can be helped to
master them through art therapy. And normal people of all ages dealing with the ups
and downs of everyday life can be helped to cope and to grow through the therapeutic
use of art. Making art provides practice in creative problem solving, useful in all aspects
of living. It also helps people to articulate a clearer sense of themselves, through their
own unique creations. These preventive roles for art therapy have led to an expansion of
the field, well beyond its original role in mental hospitals and clinics. Art therapists are
therefore finding themselves in new places, sometimes with new people and purposes
as well.
Art therapists in different places work at different tempos, depending on the nature of
the setting. Art therapists also enter people’s lives at different points in the process of grow-
ing or coping with stress. Sometimes the art therapist’s involvement with those she serves
is brief, as in a shelter or an emergency room. Sometimes the art therapist’s involvement is
sustained, as in a prison or a school. Whether short or long and whether the tempo is rapid
or slow, art therapy can facilitate screening, coping, working through, healing, even dying.

Endnotes

1. “An Art Therapy Protocol for the Medical Trauma Setting,” by V. E. Appleton, 1993, Art Therapy,
   10 (2), 71.


2. “Spontaneous Artwork as an Aid in Self-Rehabilitation: The Case of a Temporarily Handicapped
   Boy,” by J. H. Schwarz, 1985, Art Psychotherapy, 12, 81–87.


3. “The Potential of Rehabilitative Computer Art Therapy for the Quadriplegic, Cerebral Vascular
   Accident, and Brain Trauma Patient,” by D. J. Weinberg, 1985, Art Therapy, 2, 86.


4. Simon, R. M. (1982). “Peter: A Severely Disabled Patient’s Triumph Through Art, by R. M. Simon,
   1982, American Journal of Art Therapy, 22, 13–15.


5. Psychoneuroimmunology, 4th ed., edited by R. E. Adler, 2007, New York: Academic Press.


6. “Art Therapy Reduces Pain and Anxiety in Cancer Patients,” by N. Nainis & J. Paice, 2006, Journal
   of Pain & Symptom Management.


7. “A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy (MBAT) for Women With
   Cancer, 2005, Psycho-Oncology, 15(5), 363–373.


8. “Art Therapy With Pediatric Cancer Patients,” by T. Councill, 1993, Art Therapy, 78.


9. “Children of the Stones: Art Therapy Interventions on the West Bank,” by J. G. Byers, 1996, Art
   Therapy, 13(4).


10. “Colors of Disaster: The Psychology of the ‘Black Sun,’” by V. Gregorian, A. Azarian, M. DeMaria,
    & L. McDonald, 1996, Art Psychotherapy, 23(1), 1–14.


11. Klingman, A., Koenigsfeld, E. & Markman, D. (1987). “Art Activity With Children Following
    Disaster, by A. Kingman, E. Koenigsfeld, & D. Markham, 1987, Art Psychotherapy, 14(2),
    153–166.


12. “Art Therapy With a Community of Survivors,” by J. G. Jones, 1997, Art Therapy, 14, 89.


13. Children of Cardozo ... Tell It Like It Is, 1968, Cambridge, MA: Education Development Center.


14. Timm-Bottos, J. (1995). “ArtStreet: Joining Community Through Art, Art Therapy, 12(3).