Family Art Psychotherapy: A Clinical Guide And Casebook

Many of the mothers and children who participated in the study expressed a sense of pleasure and sometimes excitement from the process. Most of the mothers reported having a special experience with their children and a sense of closeness created during the experience that was not always available during daily life, while many children reported feeling good after the process.

Playfulness and enjoyment also could be seen in the following example: Amit, a nine-year-old boy, painted a large and colorful flower in his personal space, while his mother painted her own flower with pastel colors. The non-verbal dynamics through painting created joint transactions of reciprocity and reactivity. For example, during the final stage of the process when painting together, Gili and her mother became involved in mutual play and creative dialog, where one would paint something and the other would respond. Another example is when Tal responded to the flowered grass painted toward her individual painting by painting her own grass toward her mother.

In another example, ten-year-old Orr and her mother decided to paint blue sky in the joint area around their personal spaces. When the mother painted a white cloud, Orr responded with another cloud. Orr painted a bird and the mother painted a different kind of bird. They ended the process by painting a huge rainbow, when each took turns painting in a different color. In the case of Avi and his mother, the mutual bidirectional did not occur. It appeared that they ended the process without any change in their relationship.

It seems that the processes of the joint painting allowed for the development of the relationship over time and in most cases led to a positive change in atmosphere and a sense of closeness. Similarly, Tal was able to reconnect to her mother after she could explicitly express her ambivalent and angry feelings toward her. However, in a small percentage of the dyads this development did not evolve or evolved only partially.

More than that, although both partners were expressive, they did not engage in a process of receptivity and mutuality, and they seemed to work in a disconnected way. They did not experience the evolving process of the JPP, during which, as part of the bidirectional process and the development of the relationship, three major interrelated phenomena appear — mutual regulation, mentalization, and mutual recognition — enabling a transformation in the relationship.

Tal painting her black background, which turned into blue, seemed to be a response to the blue colors that her mother painted toward her. Another example was when ten-year-old Mike, who used his hands to cover most of their painting with messy mixed-brown colors, was asked by his mother to paint an actual image.

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When he chose to paint a house, he asked his mother to color inside after he made the outline of it. The mother painted the roof with her fingers, and Mike, excited that his mother was painting like him, painted the rest of the house with a paintbrush and created an image that he was proud of.

His mother, on the other hand, seemed to be influenced by Mike and painted more freely and playfully with her fingers. Within the framework of the joint painting, verbal, emotional, and cognitive attributions relating to the behaviors, artmaking, or artistic product of the other took place.

At first they just exhibited the differences: Gili used gentle colors and her mother used brighter ones; Gili painted a long path, and her mother painted a short one. But later these enacted implicit processes were acknowledged and they could verbally reflect on them, leading to an experience of each of them knowing and accepting herself and the other and being known and accepted. In the beginning of the process for Tal and her mother, both partners were different in their explicit and implicit expression.

The shape of the star was almost outside and did not take up much space on the shared paper. In addition, it appeared that Tal expressed feelings of anger toward her mother through the sharp shapes and her verbal statements. When the mother verbally acknowledged the differences between them, she used mentalization and helped Tal to understand herself and feel understood. It might be that the mentalization of the mother helped Tal to reconnect to her. The mutual regulation and the mentalization that occurred in most processes appeared to facilitate a process of mutual recognition, which comprises the ability to recognize the other as a subject with a separate inner world, while being in a mutual relationship Benjamin, , ; Gini et al.

The mutual recognition took place in the joint painting and included simultaneous recognition of the self and the other as having a unique way of being and expressing but at the same time having the ability to create together out of a close and mutual relationship. Mutual recognition is different from mentalizing because it includes mutuality and the capacity to be both separate and connected.

Furthermore it is more than mutual regulation in that there is a mutual recognition and acceptance of self, other, and the relationship. As can be seen in the case of Gili and her mother, the joint creative encounter led to the process of mutual recognition.

Family Art Psychotherapy: A Clinical Guide And Casebook - Helen B Landgarten - Google Книги

The joint painting allowed for a unique personal expression in light of the other and at the same time a common representation evolved. At the same time, both could share their colors, create an integrative game that showed on the paper, and paint a shared image that held a meaningful metaphor for their relationship. During the process of Tal and her mother, the mother allowed Tal to express herself in an authentic way to be on the side, to cover her path and still expressed her desire to connect with her through the tree image and the short and present path.

Second, when the mother painted the grass and the flowers toward Tal as a symbolic wish to connect, Tal responded by painting grass with flowers toward her mother and thus moved from a distant and angry state toward a desire to create together with closeness and pleasure. Later on, Tal invited her mother to paint the upper part together. Similarly, the mother painted in the same style as Tal but in different colors.

This shared painting enabled a unique expression of each person and at the same time led to a shared creative space. In another example, Harel, a ten-year-old, and his mother showed a partial profile of transformation when they failed to engage in mutual recognition. Harel and his mother seemed to enjoy the shared painting, using similar colors in their individual spaces.

When they were asked to paint the paths, they painted similar paths that indicated two symbolic roads toward each other. Nevertheless, when the mother painted the pool, he covered it with a different color. The mother allowed the behavior and did not acknowledge it verbally. In this case, the dynamic process evolved up to a certain point with certain levels of mutual bidirectional effect, some mutual regulation, and little mentalization.

However, these partners were not able to make room for individual, unique expression in the framework of a shared physical and emotional space, and mutual recognition did not develop. The joint observation of the artwork at the end of the process also invites other processes of mutual recognition. In front of the joint artwork, each partner can find a sensory or visual-symbolic expression of his or her inner world, the inner world of the other, and the shared narrative of the dyad Isserow, Gili and her mother made a story about a red box, which was private and belonged only to them.

The conversation that emerged from their joint observation expanded the possibility of mutual recognition. In this way, the joint observation of the child, the parent, and the therapist of the dyadic artistic product may serve as a container to the dyadic process. These processes often lead to transformation of the relationship, which enables the dyad to experience new ways to be with each other.

This change is possible through the JPP creative process, which includes the sensory-symbolic encounter through art materials e. During the JPP, implicit representations of relationships were enacted, met, and changed toward a transformative experience. Her mother, at the same time, was also able to go through a transformative process — from being rejected into being supportive and helpful.

Gili no longer experienced herself as remote and less good than her mother, but as being capable of unique creative expression that could be taken up by her mother and inspire her e. The mother experienced herself as having the ability to communicate with Gili in a receptive manner, while helping her express herself in a safer manner. Another example can be seen in the case of ten-year-old Ben and his mother.

Ben was excited, and they added thick brown lines to the fire. The mother said she loved the child and the fire and added an image of another child. It seems that throughout the joint painting, a transformation experience was created when the two partners experienced themselves in a new way. It seems that Ben was no longer experiencing himself only as tempestuous but as creative and as being appreciated by his mother.

The mother may have been experiencing herself as having the ability to communicate with Ben in an accepting way, while helping him to be regulated. Often during the JPP, it could be seen that explicit communication had an important role within the dyadic interaction. Of course, verbal communication is present among most parents and children in middle childhood as a means of cognitive and emotional expression Gilmore and Meersand, But most important was the role of the verbal communication during the JPP as accompanying and highlighting the implicit evolving process of the dyad.

Family Art Psychotherapy: A Clinical Guide And Casebook

The words supported the mutual regulation, e. The words framed the mentalization process, e. Now I can tell you why I was so angry. The findings of the current study uncover and facilitate better understanding of the unique therapeutic aspects that the JPP allows and its potential to impact parent-child relationships. The findings depict the dynamics of the implicit aspects of the parent-child relationships during the joint painting, which the study particularly focused on understanding. It appeared that the JPP served as a powerful intervention demonstrating the extraordinary potential for development and transformation in the parent-child relationship.

One of the main innovative discoveries of this research is the transformation process that actually occurs during the JPP. It is known that the JPP allows access to various characteristics in the parent-child relationship and supports implicit and explicit communication, as well as self- and shared expression Gavron, ; Gavron and Mayseless, In this study, we realized that through the JPP, a new transformative aspect of relations emerges and enables new and different modes of communication and interactions.

The joint creation during the JPP seems to invite an encounter different from the usual one in the everyday dyadic relationship. This special meeting expands the usual repertoire of communication and creates the transformative processes. This implicit and explicit dialog in motion leads to meaningful learning about new ways of being together Tronick, ; Stern, ; Fonagy, The JPP creates positive reconstruction of various elements of the relationship.

The ongoing mutually that evolves while creating together, construct implicit moments of meeting Lyons-Ruth et al. As seen in our findings, such a meeting can occur through different modes of communication Bucci, Such a moment seemed to evolve when Gili and her mother accidently met with their paintbrushes loaded with a reddish paint. This was an implicit sensory meeting through color and touch, which apparently led to the painting of the container.

It appeared that this container was a representation for their unique shared closeness in a synchronized way. Another major finding of the study refers to processes or conditions needed in order for this transformation to evolve. Several such processes emerged as part of the JPP: The context of pleasure and fun in the JPP appears to be significant.

Play and creativity, which are voluntary actions for their own sake, enable pleasure, reward, and satisfaction Schore and Marks-Tarlow, The playful art-based process allows for the presence of two points of view in a creative way at one point in time Benau, These pleasurable feelings create a common ground for the mental processes that follow. The act of painting together provides a space for positive reciprocal exchanges and for implicit negotiations of matches and mismatches between them Paschall and Mastergeorge, Harach and Kuczynski indicate that often such positive reciprocal exchanges occur in the context of play, which is similar to the fun and often joyful and autonomous process of the JPP.

The reciprocal process entails some intimacy and companionship that often include shared laughter, shared pleasure and common understanding Harach and Kuczynski, This co-creation therefore provides an opportunity to step out of the traditional hierarchical relations and engage in intimate implicit interactions that foster closeness and companionship. Together these experiences often lead to development and evolvement of the quality of the relationship during the JPP.

These processes often facilitate mutual regulation, which evolves through the sensory and tactile component of the shared art-based experience and has a mutual effect on both partners Hinz, Tronick argues that mutual states of regulation teach the dyad how to be together in different contexts and support a synchronized state of co-creativity.

Schore and Marks-Tarlow state that non-verbal symbolic representation, such as play and the arts, facilitates emotional regulation function because it arouses a variety of feelings that enact regulatory boundaries. The mentalization process occurs within the JPP in a non-verbal and sensory way, and at the same time the partners can verbally address the process Bat Or, ; Bucci, The state of mutual recognition emerges as a continuation of the relational processes and enables expression of each of the individual in the dyad as well as shared expression, while being in a close and mutual relationship Benjamin, ; Gini et al.

The capacity to recognize the other as distinct from oneself and to respect the individuality and uniqueness of the other while retaining closeness and togetherness is a complex and highly rewarding dynamic in a relationship Benjamin, Its creation and sustenance becomes a token of positive and benevolent relationship. Most of the processes described here have already been discussed in the clinical and research-based literature as important facets of the parent-child relationship Slade, , ; Schore, ; Fonagy, ; Tessier et al. However, the current study uncovered that these processes are connected to each other and revealed how they evolve throughout the joint painting in order to create transformation in the relationship.

It appears that most of the dynamic processes described in this study need to occur in order to create the transformation. One process may lead to another, and if one or more aspects are missing, such as the pleasure part or the bidirectionality effect, the transformation would probably not fully evolve. Another important finding of this study indicates that the JPP contains both explicit and implicit aspects of communication at the same time and allows for various ways of being together, such as having an implicit experience and also having a shared discussion between the partners Isserow, ; Taylor Buck and Havsteen-Franklin, As appearing in the interaction of the dyads, the implicit art-based processes often led to verbal discussions, which are important in parent-child communication in middle childhood Gilmore and Meersand, The tangible and visual expression of the relationship in the product itself and in the process of producing it allowed parents and children to look at the representations that were created and to verbally discuss them Bat Or, In this way, the explicit communication appears to integrate and articulate the implicit evolving processes Bucci, This study sheds light on how the creative encounter enabled by the JPP uncovers profound and often hidden dyadic processes between parents and children.

Such knowledge of the intricate and often overlooked implicit aspects in the interaction can help clinicians, parents and researchers in their efforts to understand parent-child relationship in the therapeutic interactions. The findings of the study underscore the significance of the use of joint artmaking as an important tool in parent-child art psychotherapy and in parent-child psychotherapy. This study is based on a one-session meeting. Observation of the relationship dynamic as it is affected through creative art processes could benefit from a long-term art-based intervention study.

Further, this study examined the relationship between mothers and children. It is important that future research will also address father-child implicit dynamics during co-creation. The JPP should also be examined with children in different developmental stages, such as young children and adolescents. This limitation was partially overcome by depicting phenomena across the whole cohort of dyads including a large number of JPP sessions that were administered by others.

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Additionally, other fellow researchers, clinicians and in particular the second author also examined the data of the JPP sessions and evaluated the insights gained by them. In sum, the study underscored the centrality of implicit aspects in parent-child relations and the great potential of joint art creation to elicit positive transformation in the relations. The study uncovered a variety of dynamic processes that occur during the joint art creation.

These interconnected dynamic processes together create an interwoven choreography that can positively transform the quality of relationship. This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the ethic comity in the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa.

The protocol was approved by the faculty ethic comity. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All authors contributed to conception and design to the study and wrote the second draft of this manuscript. This study was made as a doctoral dissertation of TG.

OM was the doctoral facilitator and organized with TG the database and the qualitative writing.

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TG preformed the analysis and wrote the first draft. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Front Psychol v. Published online Nov Tami Gavron 1, 2 and Ofra Mayseless 3. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. This article was submitted to Clinical and Health Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

Received May 24; Accepted Oct The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author s and the copyright owner s are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Abstract The relationships between parents and children contain implicit aspects, which are non-conscious and non-verbal, in addition to explicit ones.

Implicit and Explicit Aspects of Relationships and Art Creation Since the s, researchers have begun to emphasize two aspects of human communication that occur simultaneously — the implicit and explicit aspects of a relationship. Parent-Child Art Psychotherapy Parent-child art psychotherapy is a pioneering and innovative approach as part of the development of art therapy with children Regev and Snir, ; Taylor Buck et al. Materials and Methods Participants and Their Recruitment The participants included 87 mother-child dyads 43 boys and 44 girls ages nine to twelve that underwent the JPP.

Data Analysis The analysis was based on the concept that meaning is created and understood within the context of social processes and that in order to understand different patterns in human relations, we need to look deeply at their behavior and expression during the JPP Jeon, ; Starks and Brown Trinidad, Findings The findings demonstrated that the JPP process enabled a unique expression of the complex implicit relationship between mother and child. Open in a separate window. Case Study 2 Tal, a nine-year-old girl, and her mother entered the room with the mother coming in with a smile and Tal following her, looking displeased.

Case Study 3 Avi, an eleven-year-old boy, and his mother told the researcher that they had painted together many times before. Dynamic Processes As exhibited in two of the case studies 1 and 2 , several major dynamic processes emerged during the JPP, and when all six of them were present, this led to transformation in the relationship.

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Pleasure and Fun Many of the mothers and children who participated in the study expressed a sense of pleasure and sometimes excitement from the process. Development of the Relationship — An Evolving Process It seems that the processes of the joint painting allowed for the development of the relationship over time and in most cases led to a positive change in atmosphere and a sense of closeness. Mentalization Within the framework of the joint painting, verbal, emotional, and cognitive attributions relating to the behaviors, artmaking, or artistic product of the other took place.

Mutual Recognition The mutual regulation and the mentalization that occurred in most processes appeared to facilitate a process of mutual recognition, which comprises the ability to recognize the other as a subject with a separate inner world, while being in a mutual relationship Benjamin, , ; Gini et al. Transformation of the Relationship These processes often lead to transformation of the relationship, which enables the dyad to experience new ways to be with each other.

Discussion The findings of the current study uncover and facilitate better understanding of the unique therapeutic aspects that the JPP allows and its potential to impact parent-child relationships. Limitation and Direction for Future Research This study is based on a one-session meeting. Ethics Statement This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the ethic comity in the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa.

Family Art Psychotherapy : A Clinical Guide And Casebook

Author Contributions All authors contributed to conception and design to the study and wrote the second draft of this manuscript. Conflict of Interest Statement The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. References Bat Or M. Clay sculpting of mother and child figures encourages mentalization. Non-verbal representations of maternal holding of preschoolers. Contrasts, symbol formation and creative transformation in art and life.

The Bonds of Love. What Do You See? Phenomenology of Therapeutic Art Experience. Art therapy assessments and rating instruments: The role of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in the reconstruction of dissociated schemas: The Unspoken Dimension , ed. CRC Press; , 51— The construction of experience: Building on the Work of Anne Alvarez , ed. Mutual regulation, mentalization, and therapeutic action: Meeting on common ground: Ach publication House; , — The Joint Painting Procedure the Manual.

Joint painting procedure to assess implicit aspects of the mother—child relationship in middle childhood. Normal Child and Adolescent Development: Negotiation style in mother-child narrative co- construction in middle childhood: Attachment security and adjustment to school in middle childhood. Construction and maintenance of parent—child relationships: The application of grounded theory and symbolic interactionism.

Introduction to Art Therapy Research. Children kinetic family drawings and their internalizing problems behaviors. The supervision partnership as a phase of attachment. Family Therapy and Evaluation Through Art. A Clinical Guide and Casebook. A picture is worth a thousand words: From Attachment to Intersubjectivity. A review of 25 years of research in bidirectionality in parent—child relationships. Objectives, interventions and challenges in parent—child art psychotherapy. Angella marked it as to-read Feb 10, Toni marked it as to-read Apr 28, Jenny marked it as to-read Apr 21, Jolin marked it as to-read May 08, Dona marked it as to-read Jul 14, Adrianna Lynne marked it as to-read Oct 09, Elmira marked it as to-read Nov 05, Clau Pedraza marked it as to-read Feb 18, Tammy Stoner marked it as to-read Feb 23, Maris marked it as to-read Mar 11, Jenn Ross marked it as to-read Mar 25, Shelly Ann marked it as to-read Jul 02, Marylor Massucco marked it as to-read Sep 05, Courtney Vansickle marked it as to-read Jan 13, Spi Coord Inv marked it as to-read May 07, Daniella marked it as to-read Aug 10, Mohammad is currently reading it Dec 29, Cheryl Childers added it Apr 27, Mythri Bhat marked it as to-read Jul 10, BookDB marked it as to-read Oct 27, Stacey Mallory marked it as to-read Feb 05, Sa Schmidt added it May 10, Maria Herlyn marked it as to-read Jun 09, Lau CarJar marked it as to-read Mar 21, Alicia Duff marked it as to-read Jun 09, Kali marked it as to-read Aug 05, Ceeb Macfarlane marked it as to-read Aug 26, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.

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