You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This little volume, written by the Chairman of the Mental Hygiene Authority in Victoria, Australia, gives an experiment in the use of painting and music in the treatment of mental disorder. The author begins with a discussion of creative activity and has attempted to find common creative factors in the paintings of mental patients collected during the past five years at the Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon, Surrey. He points out that creative activities can be used to fill in time, provide emotional release, act as a diagnostic aid, inform as to progress, function as psychotherapeutic adjuncts and in research widen the approach to psychopathology of mental disorder.
Beginning with discussions of standard pictures, he gradually developed painting sessions for his patients. Attempts to create standard conditions were undertaken with the aim that the paintings be therapeutic, rather than simply diversive. The patient knew in advance that the paintings would be kept as carefully as case notes and would not be displayed as decoration, nor would he be allowed to sell or give them away, since they would become part of his records.
The procedural techniques explained in detail in this section should be of immediate use to any person undertaking similar activities in other hospitals.
Next, the techniques for examination of the pictures are outlined, and here case histories