Creative Reflection
Why do you think moral therapy has not been reinstated as a major treatment for those who suffer mental distress? How would you go about bringing this approach back? What changes would you make?
Freud found the fiction of Dostoyevsky, Sophocles, and Shakespeare, the sculpture of Michelangelo and Leonardo to be the inspiration for his theories. It was not his formal medical training, as much as his readings of King Lear, Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, and The Brothers Karamazov, that formed the cornerstone of his theories. (Kottler, 2017, p. 73)
The work of Carl Jung (1964)—in particular, his examination and use of universal archetypes, such as mandalas—also made the arts more attractive to researchers and innovators in counseling. Mandalas are symbols of completeness and wholeness, most often circular (see Chapter 4 for further explanation). As Jung (1933) stated, “The psychological work of art always takes its materials from the vast realm of conscious human experience—from the vivid foreground of life” (p. 157). Throughout his life, Jung continued to draw and paint, portraying his dreams in writings and through illustrations that he sometimes carved in wood and stone. He felt that psychological health was a delicate balance between the demands of the outer world and the needs of the inner world. To him, the expressive arts represented an important avenue to the inner world of feelings and images. He came to see the unconscious mind as a source of health and transformation (Allan, 2008). Thus, through the influence of Jung, art and creativity became more valued as ways of understanding human nature in our culture.
In addition, the creative genesis of Jacob L. Moreno (1923/1947), the founder of psychodrama, fostered the use of enactment to work through pain and achieve balance. Moreno originated numerous psychodrama techniques to help clients become more self-aware and make insightful breakthroughs. All of his innovations have an artistic dimension, but among the most notable are the following:
Creative imagery, in which participants imagine pleasant or neutral scenes to help them become more spontaneous
Sculpting, during which participants nonverbally arrange the body posture of group members to reflect important experiences in their lives with significant others
Monodrama, during which participants play all the different parts of themselves
Role reversal, during which participants literally switch roles with others
Overall, a major factor in the growth of the arts in counseling during the 20th century was the power of the personalities who ad vocated for them. In addition to the writings of the theorists already mentioned, those of Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Arnold Lazarus, Virginia Satir, Bunny Duhl, Peggy Papp, and Cloé Madanes emphasized the importance of counseling as an artistic endeavor and as a profession that can make a difference through the use of the arts. Research emphasizing the results of specific arts-related strategies and interventions also resulted in increased acceptance of artistic components in helping relationships.
Another important reason why the use of the arts and artistic methods achieved prominence in counseling in the 20th century has to do with the events following World War II. For example, veterans of the war were often in need of extended care for the traumas of combat. In addition to the traditional talk therapies, mental health practitioners began developing new approaches to working with those who were impaired. These included the use of some arts, such as drawing or painting, music, and literature. In this creative atmosphere, clients were helped to identify and work through pent-up emotions. Interest in the arts as an adjunct to traditional mental health practices thereby gained new recognition and acceptance. Furthermore, professional arts therapy associations were formed. Some of these, such as the American Dance Therapy Association, advocated using the arts in the service of counseling in a professional way.
Thus, out of the development of theories and the treatment of clients following World War II, arts therapies attracted more interest and gained more acceptance as unique and valuable disciplines. In the 1960s, universities began designing degrees in the arts therapies, such as dance and the visual arts. From the graduates of these programs came new enthusiasm and energy to develop standards and guidelines for practice. By the beginning of the 21st century, most art therapy associations either registered or certified their members as qualified practitioners and were attempting to license or had succeeded in licensing their members as mental health practitioners in many states. Uniting many professionals in the field was the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (www.ieata.org/), which held conferences in many countries, including the United States.
Creative Reflection
Reflect on how your interest in creativity and the creative arts has grown over the years. What art forms most attracted you 10 years ago? Five years ago? How has your taste in the arts broadened or deepened since you first became interested in them? What would you select as your three favorite art forms today (e.g., music, painting, photography, dance and movement, drama)?
Paralleling the growth of professional associations was a surge in the publication of periodicals dealing with the arts in counseling, such as The Arts in Psychotherapy. Likewise, the 1980s heralded an increased effort to share knowledge among mental health professionals interested in the arts. The National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations (NCCATA) was established in 1979. It held interdisciplinary conferences for arts therapists. The emergence of NC-CATA signaled a formal and systematic attempt to foster communication between creative arts therapies groups and individuals interested in these groups. NCCATA also focused on being an inclusive voice to achieve legislative recognition for creative arts therapists (Bonny, 1997).
Then in 2004, a new association within the counseling world, specifically in the American Counseling Association, was formed. It was the Association for Creativity in Counseling. Led by Dr. Thelma Duffey at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the association quickly attracted members and began publishing the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health.
Rationale for Using the Creative Arts in Counseling
Along with the increased growth of creative arts in counseling has come the formulation of modern rationales for using them in the helping process. Numerous reasons beyond the fact that they have a historical precedent exist for using the creative arts therapeutically. The Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective, which comprises professors in a number of academic departments at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, has given many such motives. Among them are that these arts celebrate “connectedness, deep feeling, . . . intuition, integration, purpose, and the totality of the human experience” (Atkins et al., 2003, p. 120). This group and others have influenced the counselor education program at Appalachian State University to include a specific track on creative arts therapies in counseling. Other counselor educators (Ziff et al., 2017) have summed up the research to find that the arts, such as music, film, movement, painting, and literature, may also play a role in the development of empathy in various age groups and different professions. More reasons to use the creative arts in almost all helping professions follow.
The first reason for helping professionals to use the arts in therapeutic settings is that they are a primary means of assisting individuals to become integrated and connected. Often people who become mentally disturbed, such as those with an eating disorder, have a distorted view of themselves (Robbins & Pehrsson, 2009). They become estranged from reality, become alienated from others, and thwart healing forces within themselves from coming into action. This type of estrangement is a phenomenon that Carl Rogers (1957) described as incongruence. It prevents growth and development. Many of the arts,