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Although some may find the inconsistent technical quality of the sound and video of this production distracting, this reviewer found it disarmingly relaxing, as though you were viewing a home video that invited you into an intimate series of art therapy sessions that detailed the compellingly powerful progression of the short-term, five-session treatment of a female artist and dancer. This client had been suffering from a series of destructive relationships and sought help in finding more gratification in her life from both relationships and her work as an artist, which had become monotonous and flat. After a course of verbal psychotherapy, she decided to engage in this short-term art therapy treatment to compare the two treatment modalities and try to get to underlying issues that had eluded her in her verbal work.
Robbins explains the theoretical treatment frame as “art therapy,” but this reviewer felt that the treatment process captured on video, although not assuming the form of traditional psychoanalysis, did actually meet the broader criteria of deeper level psychoanalytic treatment in that it did address and focus on the analysis of transference and resistance. Perhaps “expressive analysis” would be a more appropriate term for this unique treatment process. Additionally, although the client was a professional artist, this type of treatment should not be seen as limited to use only with artists. For it is the willingness of the client to generate spontaneous symbols, not necessarily representational or conforming to any particular standards of “good art,” that is the main requirement of this treatment modality.
The initial structure began with the client producing artwork between sessions, which was used during sessions as a starting point for processing unconscious material. Variations of this structure were used during the treatment, including dancing, movement, and elaboration on artwork with mixed media. These creative productions became a bridge for the the