This new second edition of Attunement in Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward an Understanding of Embodied Empathy has been extensively revised. The book addresses how the arts can be applied therapeutically for mental, emotional and spiritual health. The therapeutic practices offer expanded ways of being attuned to emotional states and life conditions with individuals, relationships, groups, and communities. Specific topics include: the contexts of attunement in the arts and therapy, tuning in to embodied creative intelligence, attunement and improvisation, rhythm and resonance, and the sense of balance achieved through affective sensory states. Each chapter clearly articulates how to utilize the arts to tune in to self, other, and a larger sacred presence. The poignant stories from the author's 35 years as an artist and therapist allows the reader to experience how the arts have been used throughout history to maintain healthy physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Spontaneity, heightened sensitivity to inner states, deep connectivity to self and other, and an awareness of energetic and embodied shifts in consciousness are explored. It will be an excellent resource for those interested in learning how to engage with individuals and communities in order to address complex life challenges.

Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy provides an arts-based approach to the theory and practice of expressive arts therapy. The book explores the various expressive arts therapy modalities both individually and in relationship to each other. The contributors emphasize the importance of the imagination and of aesthetic experience, arguing that these are central to psychological well-being, and challenging accepted views which place primary emphasis on the cognitive and emotional dimensions of mental health and development. Part One explores the theory which informs the practice of expressive arts therapy. Part Two relates this theory to the therapeutic application of the expressive arts (including music, art, movement, drama, poetry and voicework) in different contexts, ranging from play therapy with children to trauma work with Bosnian refugees and second-generation Holocaust survivors. Comprehensive in its coverage of the most fundamental aspects of expressive arts therapy, this book is a significant contribution to the field and a useful reference for all practitioners.

Using Expressive Arts to Work with Mind, Body and Emotions combines theory, research and activities to produce practical suggestions for enhancing client participation in the therapy process. It surveys the literature on art therapy; somatic approaches; emotion-activating models; use of music, writing and dreamwork; and the implications of the new findings in neuroscience. The book includes step-by-step instructions for implementing expressive therapies techniques, and contains a wide range of experiential activities that integrate playful yet powerful tools that work in harmony with the client's innate ability for self-healing. The authors discuss transpersonal influences along with the practical implications of both emotion-focused and attachment theories. Using Expressive Arts to Work with Mind, Body and Emotions is an essential guide to integrating creative arts-based activities into counselling and psychotherapy and will be a useful manual for practitioners, academics and student counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers and creative arts therapists.

This book lays the foundation for a fresh interpretation of art-making and the therapeutic process by re-examining the concept of poiesis. The authors clarify the methodology and theory of practice with a focus on intermodal therapy, crystallization theory and polyaesthetics, and give guidance on the didactics of acquiring practical skills.

In order to practice art therapy, one must have faith in the healing qualities of art processes and products. Introduction to Art Therapy: Faith in the Product begins and ends with references to love and faith, including characteristic elements of the writing process and clinical art therapy endeavors. This third edition represents a thorough revision of ideas expressed in the previous two editions, presenting the major themes and issues of the profession in light of the experiences of intervening years. Art therapy is effective with individuals, families, and groups and it works well with the intellectually gifted and the learning impaired. It can also be used with the chronically mentally ill, the terminally ill, the vision impaired, and the deaf. Art therapy is particularly effective with post-traumatic stress disorder--from the aftereffects of war, including physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. Enhancements in this text include: an overview of the spectrum of theoretical orientations within art therapy; a brief history of practice in the United States; fundamental principles of art therapy; curative aspects of art therapy; and metaverbal therapy. The author underscores the nature of the work, describes truths and fictions, explores pathos or pathology, and the therapeutic self. The text examines the social responsibility of art therapists and their colleagues; to record events, give form to culture, nurture imagination, and promote individual and social transformation. In addition, the author presents exceptional case examples including client-prepared artwork that highlights the text. This book will be an inspiration to serious artists that want to be involved in art therapy, and to the veteran art therapists to renew their vocations by living the process of art therapy. This comprehensive and insightful book will be valuable to art therapists, medical and mental health professionals, occupational therapists, and other rehabilitation professionals that aspire to become more effective in reaching others.

Drawing on her extensive experience in expressive arts therapy, Daria Halprin presents a unique approach to healing through movement and art. She describes the body as the container of one's entire life experience and movement as a language that expresses and reveals our deepest struggles and creative potentials. Interweaving artistic and psychological processes, she offers a philosophy and methodology that invites the reader to consider the transformational capacity of the arts. In this essential resource for anyone interested in the integration of psychotherapy and the arts, Halprin also presents case studies and a selection of exercises that she has evolved over her career and practised at the Tamalpa Institute for over twenty-five years.

A body-focused, trauma-informed art therapy that will appeal to art therapists, somatic experiencing practitioners, bodyworkers, artists, and mental health professionals While art therapy traditionally focuses on therapeutic image-making and the cognitive or symbolic interpretation of these creations, Cornelia Elbrecht instructs readers how to facilitate the body-focused approach of guided drawing. Clients draw with both hands and eyes closed as they focus on their felt sense. Physical pain, tension, and emotions are expressed without words through bilateral scribbles. Clients then, with an almost massage-like approach, find movements that soothe their pain, discharge inner tension and emotions, and repair boundary breaches. Archetypal shapes allow therapists to safely structure the experience in a nonverbal way. Sensorimotor art therapy is a unique and self-empowering application of somatic experiencing--it is both body-focused and trauma-informed in approach--and assists clients who have experienced complex traumatic events to actively respond to overwhelming experiences until they feel less helpless and overwhelmed and are then able to repair their memories of the past. Elbrecht provides readers with the context of body-focused, trauma-informed art therapy and walks them through the thinking behind and process of guided drawing--including 100 full-color images from client sessions that serve as helpful examples of the work.