Yet another version of “What Is Art Therapy?”
I am not an Art Therapist, but I studied Projective Psychological Testing in graduate school (much to the chagrin of my Counseling Psychology faculty, who asked me, directly, “Are you trying to be a Clinical Psychologist?”, to which I answered kind of dumbly, kind of smartly, and kind of smart alec-y “No, I am trying to put myself in a position to get a job…” That did not go over so well, either, but so it goes. This former president of Division 17 was not really wanting to get a satisfactory answer—he was more interested in shaming me, I think. Didn’t really work.)
Anyway…..I loved the Rorschach, how it elicited material the test-taker was not even aware of offering, and how that process, more often than not, created a richer and more complete profile of the person, or so it seemed to me. That was the theory, anyway. There was probably some truth in it, though the ethical issues involved in administering a “test” the efficacy of which was predicated on the client essentially having no real knowledge of what was really being asked, what they were offering, or what was about to be done with what they were offering, thus precluding the possibility of any real informed consent, was not in my conscious awareness until, oh, about twenty seconds ago. Another topic, but an interesting one…
It only occurred to me lately (go ahead, call me a slow learner, I don’t care…) that Art Therapy is a projective technique, in an overarching class that includes the Rorschach. Huh.
What is not, or cannot, or simply will not, be conveyed verbally, is being conveyed in images, in the art, the meaning of which the client might not be at all, or at least completely, aware. At least initially. Non-linear, not-so-cognitively-controlled “Mind” skirts around language like a play action end-around in football (sort of) where the end still retains the option to pass, or lateral backwards, or run out of bounds if he sees no safe or productive place to go with the ball…Language, or talk therapy is the fullback up the middle. Three yards and a cloud of dust. The latter more predictable and less creative, the former offering a greater range of possibilities, but also potentially more chaos, and with less control of the process…
I think (I hope) the difference, or A difference is that with the Rorschach, the stunningly, perhaps numbingly, complex Exner System of scoring boils the client’s creative responses down, calculates assorted ratios and percentages, and ultimately moves the once esoteric, now esoteric-er data into the clinician’s conceptual model, toward a diagnostic consideration, without any input from the client other than the original “What do you see in this card?” and “What makes it look like that?”
Whereas in Art Therapy, I think (I hope) the Art Therapist does not claim or pretend to “know” the meaning of the images, but uses her or his clinical acumen, relationship with, and knowledge of, the client, and experience with therapeutic art, to formulate questions and develop lines of inquiry and exploration that lead the client to his or her own revelations, or insights into the art they have created. Am I in the ballpark here?
And there is none of this (I think, I hope) “The Black Eagle means Death” kind of thing? (I heard something like that recently, and it is my genuine hope that the original context was infinitely more complex than that interpretation, which was all that I heard, but I don’t know. It was from a different lineage altogether…It was admittedly a bit of an Aarrggghh moment…)
In Art Therapy, the essential meaning or learning from experience is out there, in the client’s field, fruit waiting to be picked, but the client does not know what the tree looks like, or how to find the tree, or cannot see the fruit once the tree is found, or is not tall enough to reach the fruit when the tree is found and the fruit is seen, or….
The Art provides the path, the ladder, the map, the GPS, the knowledge that this is the right tree, and working through the Art allows the client to reach the fruit, finally, at which point the client now has a new world of options, to pick the fruit, or not, to taste it, or not, to bake it into a pie, or not, to throw it at the therapist, or not. The Art bridges from Not-Knowing or Not-Understanding to the much enhanced possibility of knowing and understanding…
The Rorschach is not used very kindly. Once the test administrator is done, the client almost never really has the opportunity to work back through the ink blots to learn about and from his or her responses to them. It is scored mysteriously, and entered into a diagnostic report. Perhaps that is a difference between a discipline which sees itself as studying, testing, measuring, clandestinely probing, and diagnosing, as distinguished from one that sees itself as collaborating, uncovering, releasing, exploring, applying, co-creating…I don’t know…I am just working through this stuff…It is not my intention to hurt any discipline’s feelings, though I am also not necessarily against it…
There is no doubt that I have much more to say about all of this. But I will stop, having created for myself a great deal to think and feel about that was not in my awareness when this pen first hit the paper for this blog post, some three hours ago…This was a productive journey…Perhaps that is one of the joys of blogging.
Your thoughts are welcomed. Feel free to comment, even if only with the old “I served with Art Therapists, I know Art Therapists, many Art Therapists are friends of mine. Doctor, you’re no Art Therapist.” I am not in this to be right, I am in this to learn…
Sincerely,
Jim Nolan, Ph.D.
But Not an Art Therapist
3 Comments for Art Therapy as a Projective Technique
Maybe something like this. One’s inner life is a movie, but the label fell off and you forgot what it was, or was supposed to be, or who the stars are, or who the characters are….. Projecting it out into the world as art allows you to view it anew, in an “Oh Yeah! THAT!” kind of way, and move along with the new rememberings to guide you….an early morning thought…..
jim
As a future graduate student at Southwestern College, I am enjoying my pre-art therapist phase and all that I do not yet know.
I appreciate your words of wisdom and invitation to question it all.
About the Moderator
Jim Nolan is in his 6th year as president of Southwestern College. He has worked for a dozen universities or colleges, both online and on the ground. He holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, and attended graduate school in English/Irish Literature. He reads a lot of books, takes a lot of photos, plays guitar, got married in India in 2010, and has a wire haired fox terrier named Barney. He is the opposite of a guru, whatever that is called.
Jim, I found it interesting that you used a photograph to illustrate your article about Art Therapy — and in fact I would like to suggest that ALL imagery is “known” to the viewer as a result of the projection of meaning ONTO that image, BY the viewer.
If you read about “Photo-Projective” technique of PhotoTherapy, you will see similar discussion about the image being different for each viewer, and signalling its meaning differently to each who sees it (and *thinks* they are seeing it the same way all other people do).
I’m certain that all “Art” is a type of Projective stimulus, but I’m not sure if Art Therapy *itself* is — would be curious to hear more about this from you…
Judy