This qualitative research looked at the relational dynamics and attachment styles of research participants through individual and dyadic art-making tasks. This research is a replication study of Snir & Wiseman’s (2010) research on Attachment in Romantic Couples and Perceptions of a Joint Drawing Session. In this particular research, three couples completed a demographic questionnaire, the ECR-S, the DAS, an individual art-making task, and a joint nonverbal drawing task with their partner, followed by a verbal reflection facilitated by researchers. Researchers found patterns suggesting attachment style may be correlated with an individual’s cultural background, relationship satisfaction, past relationship experience, and the dyadic art making process and product. Limitations and considerations were further discussed for future research.

This qualitative research aimed to explore how art therapy may enhance attunement when working with families who have involvement with Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The study utilized a focus group methodology to examine the experience of two art therapists with backgrounds in treating families involved with DCFS. Through the analysis of the participants’ discussion, artwork and reflections, several subsequent emergent themes were revealed. These themes exposed various barriers within the system that may complicate the therapeutic relationship, as well as qualities within the art process, which act as an equalizer and source of containment. These themes illuminated findings that support the role of art in building attunement, as well as questions for future research regarding families with child welfare involvement.

A six week self-study was conducted to explore the use of regular contemplative practice and art-making to examine effects on the life of an art therapy graduate student. This study examined a three-fold inquiry regarding the use of contemplative practices, namely Buddhist meditation, as well as weekly reflective art making to broaden self-knowledge and enhance general wellbeing. Further implications of the use of contemplative practice and reflective art making were reviewed for clinical application in the field of art therapy, both for the client and art therapist.

This paper investigates how the meditation practice and the self-reflective art of an art therapy trainee informed clinical work with an adolescent client. The self-reflective process included Jon Kabat-Zinn’s 29-minute body scan meditation, a review of the client’s artwork, and a response painting. This course of action was documented in a visual journal form. A hermeneutic interviewing process, or a process of open-ended questioning and dialogue, was used to find out whether or not the therapist’s understanding of the client’s experience matched with his own understanding. His responses were utilized to examine the validity of the findings. The findings support the concept of art psychotherapy as an advantageous approach to opening communication with adolescents because of its ability to permeate defenses (Linesch, 1988; Wadeson, 2010). They also support the idea that responsive art-making increases the empathic response of the therapist (Moon, 1999) and awareness of counter-transference issues (Franklin, 1999). Additionally, meditation facilitated the reflective art process by promoting clarity, focus, and authenticity, and thus, greater insight. There is limited research about the integration of meditative practices in art therapy. The research also indicates that attuned suggestion, although based on the therapist’s subjective experience, encourages the client’s sense of feeling understood. The field of art therapy would benefit from more research about methods of interpretation that avoid the arrogance of assumption. More self-reflective research is needed in our field because these methods increase the competence of practitioners.

This paper is an exploration of how art therapy informed by studio practices plays a role in addressing the challenges of immigration and acculturation, specifically looking at women from Latin America. This also investigates the mental health needs of immigrant Latina women particularly struggling with acculturation. The seven women participants were selected from Dolores Mission Parish in Los Angeles, California. The women created art on two Saturdays in response to the directive presented by the researcher, involving the exploration of their individual journey and experience of immigration and acculturation. The art was studied in a qualitative method with a presentation of the art, the analysis and the findings. The art demonstrates that the creative process can create a sense of community, a feeling of empowerment, and act as a catharsis, or “desahogo”, in relieving psychological distress from the acculturation process.

Through the lens of a participatory design (PD) approach, this study explored to find qualifying features and qualities of digital art materials, specifically art apps on iPads for art therapy use. The study comprised of two phases: 1) a questionnaire/interview of four art therapists using iPads with clients and 2) four separate focus groups with 15 art therapist and art therapist trainee participants involving multiple stages of cyclic feedback. The focus groups engaged in art directives with nine art making apps identified by the researcher and questionnaire respondents as potentially useful in art therapy. The results revealed that while there was no single commercial art app that satisfied the needs of all art therapists and vast range of clients’ technology skills, artistic abilities, stylistic preferences, and therapeutic needs, three distinct qualities and six concrete features of an “ideal” art app for art therapy use emerged. Additionally, the study’s results expanded the parameters of art therapy’s artmaking practice and visual vocabulary by illustrating digital art media’s potential therapeutic and expressive use. And most importantly, the protection of privacy and confidentiality of client’s digital artwork emerged as one of the most important issue to consider. While this paper discusses the limitless possibilities of digital art media’s meaningful usage in art therapy, it also acknowledges how its unique characteristics may require thoughtful limitations and restrictions.

This research explores the therapeutic characteristics of the art‟s sensory properties in art therapy treatment for children with developmental trauma. The researcher used interview as a method for gathering data in the qualitative research design. Two art therapists were interviewed individually in order to gain a deeper understanding about the research topic. The participants were selected based on their knowledge and practice utilizing art therapy in cases related to developmental trauma. The data gathered were coded and analyzed for emergent findings. The researcher finds that sensory-based art therapy facilitates regulation of affect and behavior, attachment repair, and the potential to process trauma memory through regression in the art. Also, the therapist‟s role as a witness for the client and a provider of a safe holding space is found to be a crucial component in sensory-based art therapy. These findings suggest implications for clinical practice and the careful construction of sensory-based art therapy according to the client‟s developmental age. Regression stimulated by loose art media may be a key component of trauma treatment. In order to regulate a child‟s affect and behavior, the art material and its quantity must be carefully selected based on its inherent sensory properties. Containment and attachment repair as the overarching goals of the art therapy treatment may also influence the selection of which art materials may be utilized. The researcher recommends a broader research study to explore treatment implications concerning sensory-based art interventions for children with developmental trauma.

This paper is a personal account of the discoveries made during a heuristic study in which the researcher sought to deepen her understanding of the difficulties of ending treatment with adolescent male clients as a female art therapist in training. Through the analysis of reflective artwork created during and after termination at a boys’ home, the researcher uncovered multiple themes as they related to the therapeutic relationship, attachment, transference/countertransference, dreams, vicarious trauma, self-care, and the ambiguity of termination. After reviewing the potential dangers of harmful termination and the paucity of literature on its effect on at-risk youth in group homes, this researcher chose to explore the personal meaning of this topic utilizing heuristic and arts-based methodologies. The process of data collection followed Moustakas’s six heuristic steps, corresponding to each day of the week. Each week, an archival termination art piece was analyzed and a corresponding questionnaire composed of four research questions and an art response was completed. After four weeks of data collection, two cumulative art pieces were finished to summarize research findings. Further dissection of the collective data was completed through a theoretical lens of attachment theory. Results suggested that reflective art making was proven useful to this researcher as a living record of the termination process and therapeutic relationship. To encourage self-care, deeper introspection, and monitoring of one’s expectations of termination, this creative modality could be utilized by other art therapists to externalize, cope with vicarious trauma, contain and process the complicated feelings of letting go.

The use of story and art therapy with children in treatment is explored in two case studies. Stories used as interventions for the participants include picture book stories and self- generated narratives. The study’s participants also created art responses that took forms as illustrations and self made books. Research questions that were investigated were: When children receiving art therapy engage with stories created by others, how did they respond? ; When children receiving art therapy create their own stories, how did they respond? ; What themes emerge in the art? Main subjects of the study were clients ages 6 and 8 receiving individual and family services from the therapist’s agency at The Whole Child. A case study approach was used to highlight themes and identify psychologically meaningful content in existing picture books for both participants. Biographical data and also responses to interventions were recorded in assessment and progress notes. Based on the results, the therapist found using picture books as interventions in therapy created a safe space where it helped clients to open up about personal feelings or situations that would be difficult to express or even discover on their own.

This study explores a beginning clinician’s use of art and journaling to process case material, clarify countertransference, identify signs of compassion fatigue and illuminate instances of personal growth. The clinician used a mixed methodology in her research including both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis consisted of a battery of valid and reliable, evidence-based, self-administered tests at the beginning and end of data collection to measure compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. The qualitative analysis involved the clinician making art and keeping a journal over 10 weeks’ time as tools to process and clarify case material and countertransference. These materials were then converted into data sets for comparative analysis. Research questions were adapted from two previous studies related to a beginning clinician’s experiences of countertransference (Arbas, 2008, Karner, 2011). To inform this study the literature review discusses special considerations for clinicians working with dying patients and their families. These include, but are not limited to, the need for an existential, humanistic, and flexible therapeutic approach; grief interventions for bereaved clients and clinicians; and specialized approaches and considerations related to transference and countertransference. The study also discusses how art and journaling can not only be used to process clinical material but also as an effective method of self care for the beginning clinician. The personal art made in response to case material and countertransference as well as the journal entries conveyed the responses of a beginning clinician working in a second-year practicum with dying patients of all ages and socioeconomic levels, and their families. The analysis identifies themes of countertransference relating to personal loss, personal family dynamics, and personal existential issues. It also shows evidence of an increase in both compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. The data analysis in the study indicates that art has helped the beginning clinician clarify case material, identify countertransference, reduce emotional buildup, become aware of personal growth as a result of the work, and better attend to clients and clinical work. These findings correlate with findings of several other authors (Arbas, 2008, Deaver & Shiflett, 2011, Fish, 2012, Hardy, 2008, Harter, 2007, Karner, 2011, Miller, 2007, Wadeson, 2010)