Ditty Dokter is joined by contributors from a number of multicultural backgrounds, in a volume examining the issues surrounding intercultural arts therapies as a means of working with clients who are refugees and migrants. The ultimate aim is to promote more awareness of intercultural issues to build a broader framework for arts therapy practice.

The legal and humanitarian response to the world's growing population of refugees and migrants has created more awareness of not only the physical but also the psychological needs of displaced peoples. Refugees are often the forgotten victims of war violence and political upheaval, subjected to the traumatic loss of family and home and the consequent deterioration of cultural identity as they seek asylum in other countries. Ditty Dokter is joined by contributors from a number of multicultural backgrounds, in a volume examining the issues surrounding intercultural arts therapies as a means of working with clients who are refugees and migrants. The role of art, music, dance, and drama in healing the effects of trauma and restoring the sense of cultural and personal identity is discussed, emphasising the need for sensitivity to cultural differences in practice. The ultimate aim is to promote more awareness of intercultural issues in an attempt to build a broader framework for arts therapy practice.

This book explores how ‘the hostile environment’ of neoliberalism affects art therapy in Britain. It shows how ambiguity in art and in psychoanalytically understood relationships can enable art psychotherapy groups to engage with class dynamics and aspire to democracy. The book argues that art therapy needs to become a political practice if it is to resist collusion with a system that marginalises collectivity and holds individuals responsible for both their suffering and their recovery. It provides accounts of the contradictions that are thrown up by neoliberalism in art therapists’ workplaces as well as accounts of art therapy groups with those affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower, in an acute ward, a women’s prison, a community art studio and in a refugee camp. Written by art psychotherapists for arts therapists and other mental health workers, the book will bring political awareness and consideration of resistance into all art therapy relationships, whatever the context and client group.

""Cultural Identity and Mental Health is a unique book because it defines culture and identity from a developmental perspective; therefore delving more deeply into the psychological, social and biological aspects of the immigrant and refugee experience in the U.S.A. and it explains how these experiences help to shape the development of the person's cultural identity. The book presents a very detailed discussion on the concept of acculturation and reviews all of the available literature on the subject. It also covers the sociological, anthropological, political and economic aspects of the immigrant and refugee experience and how these variables impact on mental health, thus presenting the experience of migration from a very broad and humanistic perspective. This book embarks on a deep exploration of the psychodynamic experience of immigration, while at the same time covering the epidemiological risk factors and protective factors related to the immigrant experience; thus, presenting ample and up to date empirically-based data. The book has a unique chapter addressing the true and accurate statistics of immigrant criminality and explores and analyzes this data under a new lens, helping to dispel the myths that result from contemporary anti-immigrant rhetoric. It also explains the types of crimes committed by immigrants, immigrants as victims of crime, cultural crimes, and motivations and the explanatory narratives presented by those who violate immigration laws. In addition, it also covers the history of immigrant criminality in the United States. The book has another important chapter addressing Immigrant Narratives and the role and importance of the personal-historical narrative in life-story construction, and the narrative as a therapeutic tool that can help to repair the trauma of loss and dislocation suffered by many immigrants when they leave their country of origin and begin a life in a new host country. It also introduces the role of the new immigrant narratives in contemporary literature and how this literature can be used by teachers and parents to help integrate the experiences of the different generations of the immigrant family, as well as to educate the younger generations of Americans about the country's new cultural diversity. There is a chapter that explains the new concept of Transnational Identities that result from the improved communication technologies, as well as from more accessible travel, which have deeply changed the immigrant experience and are part of the new phenomenon of globalization. Another interesting chapter analyzes the phenomenon of Return Migrations comparing the points of view of the returning immigrant with those of the ones who stayed behind, further analyzing this topic from a psychological and socioeconomic perspective. It also explains the psychological meaning of Pilgrimages in which the pilgrim visits, not necessarily the land of his or her actual birth or upbringing, but the land of the ancestral family history, in an attempt to bridge the gaps between the generations and to better integrate the pilgrim's sense of ethnic and cultural identity. In addition, this book also has an extensive and well-documented chapter on the refugee experience, outlining the current world-wide refugee crisis and explaining the sociopolitical reasons behind the crisis, as well as offering new evidence-based treatments for this population. This is a very comprehensive and well-written book that covers adults, children, adolescents and families and describes the sociocultural experience of the various generations of immigrants in their adaptation to life in the U.S. It also explores the immigration-related family separations as well as the psychological impact faced by the children that stay behind and later re-unify with their parents in the U.S., as well as those families that are separated by deportation. Finally, the book also presents a comprehensive chapter on culturally-sensitive and culturally-competent evidence-based mental health treatments for the various generations of these populations, including recommendations on ethno-pharmacology. One of the many strengths of the book are the very compelling and clearly explained clinical cases, which help to illustrate the theoretical concepts that are presented in each chapter. This book is a very timely and very valuable contribution to the bio-psycho-social study of the immigrant experience to the U.S. in its first generation and beyond, and is an essential tool for students and professionals in the social sciences, in the fields of social work, psychology, medicine and psychiatry, and for members of government organizations responsible for urban planning, policy and budgets, as well as for agencies dealing with the reception, placement and assistance of immigrants and refugees. ""--

Stipulation of a present actual position of Art Therapy, however, inevitably leads to further thoughts about ongoing development. Everything required for the theoretical-practical founding of a European Art Therapy, as discipline still has to be done, including construction of a communicative bridge to partners in other continents or countries. This development work has two strands of development. One follows a more theoretical direction with European Art Therapy as a research and teaching subject as an objective in view. The other is directed more towards practical fieldwork, which, in turn, can lead to the establishment of funds of experience as well as quantitative and qualitative investigations and thus to theoretical-methodical statements. In the contributions on hand both connections pervade. Naturally the individual articles in this collection do not fully expound the volume of art therapeutic work throughout Europe but they are a source of information and inspiration for the user from theory and / or practice, who can then find his particular niche with his own specific interests within the cross-section and subsequently continue the discourse spatially and objectively.

Intercultural Arts Therapies Research: Issues and methodologies is the first overarching study on intercultural practice and research models in the arts therapies. It provides a new departure from traditional arts therapies education and research in that it focuses on research studies only. Written by international experts in the field, the book offers a selection of diverse research undertaken within four arts therapies modalities: art, dance, drama and music. Drawing on methodologies such as ethnography, phenomenology and case study research, chapters focus on cultural identity, the transposition of cultural practices to a different context, and the implications of different languages for arts therapies and disability culture. With reference to primary research, it aims to help practitioners and students to develop further research, by making the mechanics of the research process explicit and transparent. Intercultural Arts Therapies Research will appeal to arts therapists, psychological therapy practitioners, postgraduate students and other health and social care professionals. It will also be of interest to students, artists, teachers, social workers and those working for international aid agencies.

This comprehensive book brings together the voices of international art therapists with diverse backgrounds and experiences and asks them to consider the role of postmodernism in their understanding of art therapy. These practitioners share a common postmodern belief that art is a unique way of expressing and mediating the human condition and that art therapy should not be a diagnostic tool but a collaborative healing process between the therapist and the client. Drawing on psychotherapy, aesthetics and philosophy, the contributors present current practice, research and case studies and show the many directions and possibilities of postmodern art therapy. This book is an important addition to art therapy theory and will be a crucial text for all art therapy students, academics, researchers and practitioners.