This qualitative case study explored the role of art therapy in identity exploration for adolescents that have experienced complex trauma. The participant in this study was an adolescent survivor of childhood abuse who subsequently developed symptoms of complex trauma. She was a resident of Star View Adolescent Center located in Torrance, California. The researcher conducted a thematic analysis of the art images produced in a series of therapeutic sessions as well as an analysis of researcher response art. This analysis offered clues to the participant’s process of identity formation. The researcher found that the symptom spectrum of complex trauma, which includes difficulty with self-regulation, distortions in the sense of self, and disruptions to systems of meaning manifested in the art as fragmentation, disconnectedness, and isolation. Through both process and product, the use of art making in the therapeutic setting provided an opportunity to explore integration of the fragmented, disconnected, and isolated parts of self.

This study explores how a therapist’s personal history of complex trauma impacts countertransference in clinical work. Utilizing artmaking and journaling, the research questions and methodology are based on a previous study (Arbas, 2008), which this study replicates and then uses both data sets as for a comparative analysis. To inform this study, the literature review focuses on non-physical forms of child abuse, how child abuse over an extended period turns into complex trauma, how complex trauma effects a child, and how therapeutic treatments and art therapy can be utilized to help a child recover from trauma. In addition, Countertransference and vicarious traumatization, self- care, and Art and journaling as forms of self care are discussed. Through the data collection and presentation of data, the art responses and journaling illustrate effects and emotional responses of a therapist working with children with trauma histories in lieu of her own complex trauma history. The analysis identifies three themes: How countertransference manifests through the creative expressions used, how the creative reflections can help the therapist identify countertransference, and how the art process as a form of self-care helps the therapist is studied. Considering the data analysis from both this study and the study done by Arbas in 2008, it is observed that both subjects found that the art helped them to explore and identify their countertransference, release unconscious material, self regulate, better attend to their clinical work, and identify an increased need for self care.

This case study explores the benefits as well as the challenges of using art therapy with an emotionally disturbed child who was seen in three different settings. The literature reviewed for this case study covers the wide variety of factors affecting the client, including prenatal exposure to drugs, drug abusing parents, neglect in the postnatal environment, difficulty attaching to others, classification as emotionally disturbed (ED), requiring a special education classroom setting, and a diagnoses of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The findings indicate that the art proved to be a particularly useful tool with which to assess and treat the client. Initially, the client’s reluctance to create art in the session was interpreted by the author as being a reflection of her abilities as an art therapist. By examining her countertransference, the author was able to understand the client’s reluctance as a reflection of his difficulty attaching to the therapist and collaborating with his family. The findings highlight the importance for emerging art therapists to address their countertransference in supervision when working with clients who appear unwilling to make art.

Medical art therapy is a specific type of art therapy practiced primarily in settings where clients are actively ill or in recovery from a medical procedure. This heuristic study will seek to support the advancement of growth in this field, a wide spread use of medical art therapy in every setting catering to the medically or chronically ill. The researcher used her own medical records from a 10-year bout with illness, childhood to late adolescence, to stimulate the production of data in the form of journal entries and artwork. The data collected was then analyzed through both a clinical and personal lens to determine the existence of themes or patterns not only in the artwork, but also in the perceptions of the child then battling illness and now being assessed by their adult self. This research not only supports the benefits of utilizing art making/art therapy in processing and recovering from chronic illness but also in using the heuristic method of research to answer deeper questions from the perspectives of the clinician and the participant simultaneously.

This study explored how two LMU Art Therapy alumni were impacted by client-initiated premature termination, specifically when their clients stopped treatment without providing a reason. All that physically remained when their clients left was their art. The literature review explored the discrepancy between client’s and therapist’s perspectives on treatment duration and reasons for termination. While the art therapy literature explored art techniques to prepare for termination, there was no research on premature termination. Through qualitative approach utilizing interviews and art-based inquiry, art therapists in this study provided reflective perspectives and personal accounts of their experience. The study also explored participants’ interpretations of their client’s art from their final therapy session. Responsive art-making allowed art therapists to depict what they would want their clients to know now. Three themes emerged from analysis of the interviews and art responses: Art therapists’ residual feelings for their clients; Using art to convey the power differential in the therapeutic relationship; and Using art to convey well wishes, clarification, and containment—all stemming from the ambiguity of the unexpected ending. The choice to terminate treatment this way was the clients’ right. The power to create closure through art was the art therapists’. The art therapy field may benefit from future studies that address potential art techniques that help art therapists process the lasting impact of client-initiated premature termination.

This paper was an exploration of second generation Hungarian American identity development seeking to augment the understanding we have regarding second generation immigration, and particularly that of the children of those Hungarians who left during the communist occupation or shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The research methodology used was a qualitative inquiry of semi-structured narrative interviews with an art-making component, from which emergent themes were identified. The five emergent overarching themes found were: The unique experience of being Second- Generation to immigrant parents, Hungarian American Identity, Misperceptions connected to being part of a white minority group, A closed system serves as a protective factor, and Art as a facilitator for expression and meaning making. These themes are examined against existent literature pertaining to the experience of second-generation Hungarian Americans, and discussed within the context of clinical applications and possible future research.

This study documents an integrated mind/body approach to art therapy in the treatment of complex trauma and proposes a conceptualization of the process of neural integration of traumatic memory through art therapy. The researcher used a phenomenologically informed approach in a single case study design, culling data from 18 art therapy sessions with a child suffering from complex trauma. Using a data matrix, the researcher correlated verbalizations regarding somatic states and emotions with four categories of visual symbolizations. Emergent themes included seeking attachment repair; exposing attachment ruptures; experiencing traumatic memory as kinesthetic motoric process; dissociative coping mechanisms; behavioral control problems; and affect dysregulation. The researcher proposes a conceptualization of the neural integration of traumatic memory, mapping 12 associated neural and art processes. Outcomes subjectively documented include: better behavioral control; reduced somatic numbing; and improved affect regulation. Implications for the fields of art therapy and traumatology are discussed.

This paper is an exploration of what culturally constitutes Latina identity formation pre and post immigration specifically looking at women from Mexico and Central America, with a special interest in looking at how acculturation impacts identity formation. This also investigates the mental health needs of immigrant Latina women particularly struggling with acculturation and lost sense of self. The eight women participants were selected from Santa Rosa de Lima church in Simi Valley. The women created art on three Saturdays in response to the directives presented by the researcher, all art prompt involved exploration on identity. The art was studied in a qualitative method with a presentation of the art, the analysis and the findings. The art demonstrates the importance of family cohesiveness and the challenge for Latinas to identify their personal needs away from the needs of their families. The art also suggests that acculturation can evoke stress, depression, anxiety and lost sense of self.

The journey to health using felt-sense and self-care is depicted in this qualitative sequential research design. While finding the balance between schoolwork and clinical work during art therapy graduate school, the researcher used Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy techniques to address somatic experiences and respond to them using art-making and written reflections. After completing the heuristic phase of the research, the researcher then Created a structured workshop to explore how other art therapists experienced and assessed the Focusing-oriented Art Therapy process to respond to their own felt-sense of stress and of self-care. The researcher was able to highlight the importance of attending to somatic experiences and utilizing self-care to counter- balance the stress associated with the art therapy profession both personally and for the workshop participants.

The main purpose of this qualitative research study is to explore first- and second-generation Chinese American’s immigration and acculturation experiences using semi-structured narrative interviews, inviting participants to engage in further exploration incorporating art making, a non- verbal method of expression. The research was designed to gain a greater understanding of Chinese Americans’ views and understandings of self, the experience and impact of cultural values on individuals and families, and to understand the role of communication and verbal and non-verbal modes of expression for this population. The findings are intended to potentially aid professionals working with this population: to promote greater awareness, understanding, and sensitivity to concerns of particular relevance, such as understanding the place of self-expression and expression of emotion, both verbal and non-verbal modes, and the role of value systems including traditional Chinese values, such as filial piety, interdependence and harmony, shame and face-saving reactions, and emphasis on achievement, especially in the context of family. Additionally this study contributes to the field of art therapy by exploring cultural and intergenerational considerations and the use of art in therapy with Chinese Americans.