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Edith Kramer, a pioneer in the field of art therapy, presents a further articulation of her notions regarding the therapeutic applications of art in her most recent text, Childhood and Art Therapy: Notes on Theory and Application. Those of
us who are familiar with her viewpoint will note the usual emphasis on the adjunctive role of the art therapist and the employment of the concept of sublimation as a pivotal goal in working with patients. Attention to resistance and transference phenomena is underplayed as her entire thrust is one of working with her patients towards competency and mastery of their feelings through artistic expression. Ample case studies highlight a dedicated professional who is very much present with her patients and is particularly effective in providing a safe structure for adolescents who have poor impulse control.
Edith Kramer is deeply committed to the psychoanalytic applications of theory and techniques to the art expression of patients. Unfortunately, her latest work indicates that she has not kept pace with current developments within the psychoanalytic movement. Her text pays scant lip service to object relations theory, though she does passingly recognize the importance of transitional objects that are expressed through patients' artwork. Her neglect of the concept of neutralization and its relationship to object relations illustrates a critical fallacy in her theoretical position. For many artists, be they patients or otherwise, their work consists of highly charged un-neutralized imagery that is precariously contained within their work of art. Others see artistic endeavor as a means of rediscovering lost objects that are associated with unresolved infantile issues. Therapy, as contrasted to art expression, begins when primary process content is slowly converted into secondary process communication. Edith Kramer relegates this job to primary therapists. However, transferences with art therapists do exist although we may not always see