Roles of Art in Therapy

Roles of Art Therapy: (you can make this explicit in your treatment goals)
1. Tell a story
2. Ventilate
3. Partialize (organize thoughts)(example of doing colored genogram)
4. the art as a mirror of self (projection)
5. Master a situation - gain a sense of control or understanding
6. Master a task (“I am capable”)
7. Representation of another “object” (a stand in for someone else)(if you don’t like what you made, it may be a representation of your shadow side).
8. sublimate destructive impulses (unconscious)
9. meditate/be mindful here and now (great for substance abuse)
10. give form to an abstract concept (i.e. my depression looks like…)
11. Discover unconscious or repressed material
12. communicate the unspeakable (trauma)
13. try out new roles
14 Reframe a situation (re-write a personal narrative, the things we always tell ourselves about ourselves and our lives)
15. As a microcosm of how we see, approach and interpret the world.