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This book is a part of the series published for the International Society for Psychological and Social approaches to Psychosis (ISPS), an organization with the core aim of promoting psychological and social approaches to understanding and treating psychosis. I started the book with enthusiasm due to my proclivity towards the ISPS and their work, but also with slight uncertainty and even skepticism due to my lack of any prior knowledge regarding art therapy. I was pleasantly surprised with how gripping I found some of the chapters, and some were particularly touching and inspiring. I was equally frustrated by the complexity of some chapters, especially those that did not have the back up of case material. However, taking time and revisiting difficult concepts has I think greatly increased my understanding of some theoretical aspects related to art therapy in psychosis.
This book is a compilation of chapters by various authors, and presents theoretical and clinical approaches to art therapy in psychosis. It incorporates perspectives not only from different schools of psychoanalysis, but also from several other disciplines including philosophy, ontology, phenomenology, and neurophysiology. I had not been previously aware that psychoanalysis is just one among many elements informing art therapy.
The book describes various methods and techniques of art therapy, including artwork-focused art therapy, the side-by-side approach, dialogical art therapy, and the use of comic strips. These are described using case narratives, and both individual and group therapies are included. I felt touched and inspired by the case narratives that illustrate the role of art therapy in helping patients recover their ability for communication and engagement with others, which is usually profoundly compromised by intolerable psychotic anxieties.
The introductory chapter is I think aptly titled ‘places for mind to heal,’ taken from the words of gratitude of a patient describing the meaning and rel