[LAUIL601] Secondary Research - Art Therapy Framework

All paraphrased from https://arttherapyresources.com.au/happens-art-therapy-session/

Harvard Referenced: Art Therapy Resources. (n.d.) What Happens in An Art Therapy Session? Available at: https://arttherapyresources.com.au/happens-art-therapy-session/ [Accessed 1 Jun 2021]. 

Structured environments where art therapy is delivered, such as schools, prisons, and hospitals, strongly emphasises the outcomes. Proof is often required to illustrate that an art therapy program is working especially for funding.

Treatment planning delivers 3 important benefits:

• Establishing what the client needs help with

• A commitment to help the client

• Evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment

'Treatment planning encourages a focused-approach for both the client and therapist to resolve current issues for the client.' An art therapist utilises clinical skills, psychology, and their understanding of the client to tailor an individually engaging session. There are three stages that define an effective art therapy session:

Stage 1: Pre Art-Making

• Assessing client

• Providing education of art therapy to the client: outlining the benefits, typical process of a session, addressing any reluctance the client may have in participating in art activities or therapy

• Setting therapeutic goals, subsequently on a smaller scale in following sessions

Stage 2: Art-Making

Three elements to consider: 

• Medium

• Theme

• Process

An art therapist introduces the activity and suggested materials. Offering the client choices of activities and art materials 'fosters an environment of self-expression with a sense of control.' When the activity and materials are agreed upon, the art therapist observes while the client works. The art therapist can guide through materials if any questions arise and answer queries about an activity. Communication should be non-directive and open-ended.

The issue of perfectionism may arise, and it is important for the art therapist to remind the client that they are 'not creating an artwork to be judged and interpreted' but for the benefits of the creative process. This 'will arouse [the] client’s connection to the joy of art' and bring a 'sense of joy and accomplishment of completing the task.'

Art therapists will observe the following during art therapy sessions:

• The client's decision-making in relation to materials chosen and not chosen

• The degree of hesitation or impulsiveness

• Whether a client is independent or seeks guidance during activities

• Any body language or facial expressions as a response to the creative process

• Whether a client creates freely or rigidly

• Whether a client is organised or disorganised

• Whether a client is pleased or critical with their outcome(s)

• Whether the client expresses enthusiasm or apathy to an activity

Throughout the creative process, it is important for an art therapist to remain impartial and unbiased towards a client’s behaviours in regard to the use of materials. 'An art therapist who incorrectly applies their own bias to this situation may run the risk of over analysing their client’s behaviour.'

Stage 3: Post Art-Making

• Discussion: explore client's feelings and thoughts around the art activity. 

Asking the client to title their outcome(s) initiates a verbal discussion which can extend to thoughts and feelings on the activity, the materials used, changes in mood, if any memories surfaced, and summarising any themes to explore. If this cannot be achieved verbally, a journal can be used instead.

'It is important to avoid giving interpretations (avoiding your bias) and reaffirm with your client that you are not looking for hidden meanings within the art.' (Art Therapy Resources n.d)

[LAUIL601] Final Outcomes - Poetry

Haiku 1: Shadow of the Past

Shadow of the past

unwanted forgotten soul

Drifting the outskirts

Vintage jigsaw piece

out of place and unfitting

Belonging nowhere

World shrinking smaller

constellated lights dimming

Sole Lonely Lightbulb 

Pretty lullaby

accompaniment stirring

Remember me well

Haiku 2: On Depression

A hidden darkness

Beguiling and abating

Radiates in smoke

Paired inner anguish

Inky fingers extending

Choking with pressure

To reach out, beckon

For wanderlust awaiting

Drowning in myself

Haiku 3: On Blindness

Squinting through static

radiant flashing spectrum

Dark objects gliding

Expanding black shroud

slowly engulfing the world

Covered. Detached. Gone.

Sharp pain and stinging

face forward in position

A trapped prisoner

No measure of tears

or screams or cries, bargaining

Will ever recover

Haiku 4: On Loneliness

The heart aflutter

hammering fast to break free

from her cage of bone

Blackbird yearns to sing.

Drab wings umbrella in a

safety net cocoon 

Dark eyes reveal a

spirit crushed ‘neath a pressure

Insurmountable

Him, a kindred bird

Cast beautiful silhouette

A hope, a dream, a wish

She remains unseen,

hidden to his splendour

Blackbird locked away

Poem 5: Girl Who Cannot See

Little girl who could not see

Just how much people hated thee

Disrespectful commentary

Safe haven filled with jealousy

Scornful, muddied, smeared and stained

A shock of insults spreading pain

Twisted prejudice fueling judgement

Angry shadows in their descent

Immobilized by broken glass

Snakes snapping within Eden's grass

The little girl just could not see

how ugly this world can really be

Others join the battalion 

Spears and arrows, knives of hate

Armour up and join the troops

against the girl who cannot see

Waiting for the next blow

Disorientated, dejected...

Unjustified

to the girl who cannot see

Perhaps this wasn't meant to be

There is beauty in the solitary

Finding our own sanctuary

Come, girl who cannot see

Poem 6: Stroke

Three years to the day,

You collapsed on the concrete,

My world crumpled too.

Frozen in time as

Everything melted,

Teardrops melting you

Shielded and curtained

Hiding prying onlookers,

I wanted to hide

Oxygen tanks and

Blue uniformed staff circling,

My hand held tightly.

Drifting unconscious,

Body beginning to sag,

Please be okay, Mum.

Memories blurring

Our ambulance ride and

The waiting... waiting... 

Numb and swollen eyes

Our lives have changed forever.

I stare at my shoes.

My mind is blank.

You're only forty-seven.

Stroke.

Three years to the day

You collapsed on the concrete,

My world crumpled too.

I've never left that

February afternoon.

Tragic looping fall.

Reflection:

• I created 6 poems during this module, one of which became an audio collaboration with a minimalist soundscape.

• I adopted an authorial practice, going beyond the visual, inspired by Peony Gent's lecture right at the beginning of the academic year. It was an incredibly powerful and inspiring visiting lecture and had such an impact on me to take a more multidisciplinary approach to making and creating.

• As art therapy taught me, it's difficult to find the words. poetry helped me find these words and to place them into a context

• I did get a bit trapped within the comfortable boundaries and system of the haiku for a while. I suppose in Tami's absence, my Guide Dog who was operated on and recovering - and I was struggling without her, I needed some form of comfort. Writing became that but I settled into what worked. 

• As Art Therapy taught me, it's difficult to find the words when we are going through traumatic experiences, to reach out to other people for help. Poetry helped me find these words and to place them into a context that I could contain.

• What could I improve and do better? I could have audio recorded these and made them into a series. My voice is powerful and conveys how I feel, rather than just words on a screen. This could be something to focus on after I graduate perhaps. I can post them onto Youtube, bandcamp, audioboom, soundcloud, instagram... The platforms are endless. Collaborating once again with audio soundscapes to bring them a different dimension.

• I need to try not to fall into haikus and familiar poetry systems to see what else can be achieved with wordplay and to keep challenging myself.

• Partnering these with my abstract expressionist paintings gives them context and it becomes something very powerful. They could exist within a publication.

[LAUIL601] Artist Research - Five Contemporary Artists Exploring Mental Health

Mahon, F. (2017). Five Contemporary Artists Exploring Mental Illness. Available at: https://www.hungertv.com/feature/five-contemporary-artists-exploring-mental-health/ 20 Oct 2017. [Accessed 26 May 2021] 

"What is often left out of the conversation is art’s capacity to transform, heal and strengthen." She arguesIt’s this capacity for healing that is the topic of a new exhibition at London’s Zebra One Galleryentitled ‘With Art in Mind’. Exploring how artists share their own experiences of mental health through their work, the exhibition features pieces from iconic artists including Francis Bacon, Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol alongside contemporary artists Kim Noble, Charlie and Eddie Proudfoot and George Harding.This is a preview of that exhibition

My Hands Are Tied

Kim Noble

"Having spent many years in and out of hospital, Kim Noble was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder in 1995, Kim Noble has 20 differing personalities, 14 of whom are artists. These 14 artists each have their own distinctive artistic styles ranging from abstracts to collages, making Kim one of the most prolific creative around today."

The selected artwork depicts red shadows of human forms. One chained down, another floating. Perhaps daydreaming and wishing, projecting their mind to be anywhere else from their mind prison confinements. "Free me, please help" in a childlike and naive handwritten note. A plea for help backwards, unheard. Lowercase suggests a quiet whisper. The textures in the illustration remind me of flowing water running downwards and suggest a cool atmosphere against the hot and aggravated body. The figure is bright red in contrast representing that they don't belong in their surroundings perhaps. Absent lines suggest the absence of structure in one's circumstances or life with bold shapes at the forefront of the composition. Primary colours give connotations of core needs and wants. The space has depth and distance, it is lonely.

Proudfoot 2

Charlie and Eddie Proudfoot

"Elusive and secretive, little is known about the Proudfoot Brothers except that they reside in NYC’s Lower East Side, and spent time in foster care, prison and psychiatric care throughout their lives. Creating mixed media works using old magazines and newspapers – the Proudfoot’s art centres on portraiture that obscures the face, making their subjects as elusive as themselves."

Rapid, harsh mark-making mixing primary and secondary colour palettes; warm and cool tones in a discordance with no particular preference. Non-representational figure with a head-shape with ears, neck and shoulders. Horizontal marks give the illusion of a nose and eyes but nothing else gives away race, gender or identity. The portrait is of someone in distress from the way the visual language indicates drips of paint for teardrops against the brutal, visceral and vulnerable lines. Painterly elements have been made in swiftness, speed and with a violent liveliness. The way the portrait is framed in relation to space and composition forces the viewer to look into the unknown. Look at a stranger. We look at people all the time but never understand what is behind the face. What is carried each day. Knowing the context that not much is known about the artists gives it an even more secretive layer.

Half Man, Half Basquiat

Darren MacPherson

"Figurative painter Darren MacPherson draws inspiration from his previous life as a social worker in his art. His colourful pieces explore the human condition through a complex process of layering using acrylics, spray paint, pastel and crayon.in acrylics, spray paint, oil pastel and crayon"

Compositionally Basquiat's figure take's up most of the space but not in an imposing or stifling way. Texture in the background suggests the graffiti and street art that he was known for early in his career, and the visual language on the portrait narrates the primitive, abstract figuration and neo-expressionism he was most famous for. The painting mixes primary and secondary, warm and complementary colours in a harmonious balance with flat and strong values. Overall there is visual and figurative balance, only through the rough, violent, and lively gestures is there any suggestion of anything otherwise. 

I feel very uninspired by this piece and personally it doesn't interest me. Why not display a Basquait original or reproduced print? I feel it rather reductive to mimic another's legacy and visual language even if it is to tell his story. Is it really telling his story? This is only an echo. McPherson, as an artist, has the chance to share his soul and his own personal journey with mental illness.

Puzzled 2. Mix Media on Layered Perspex. 37.5x54.5cm

George Harding

"George’s self-portraits challenge perceptions about mental health. Drawing from his own journey with mental illness, and those of friends and family, he finds inspiration from impressionist painters – using techniques of blurring and fragmenting to portray emotion and disassociation from reality. Through his work he tries to create joy around our selves, and show that there are many different ways of living and being."

This abstracted perspex is in the same avenue as the work I create, in an expressionist and intuitive direction. Deliberate neon strokes shout against a cool grey background, like the wild thoughts in an English sky. Jigsaw pieces scatter, almost falling like trying to fit into society, family and other environments. Making the pieces fit but struggling to do so. As I zoom in there is actually a female figure there, I didn't notice it before because of my low level of vision! That surprised me. A pretty doll-like vintage woman stares up at the ceiling while pouting, with the neon strokes and jigsaw pieces layered on top. Collage and figuration juxtaposed and conflicting. Many things happening at once just like mental illness. Displaying the external of the portrait in the background but the internal of the mind at the foreground. The lighting is rather dark and muddy, values are contrasting. The gestures of paint suggest they were made deliberately with speed in an uncontrolled freedom. The space of the composition is full and overbearing, there is a lot to focus on and process like living with mental health or trauma. There isn't much unity or balance.

I only selected four of the five artists from the exhibition to focus artist research on.

[LAUIL601] Artist Research: John Sayers

 

Figure 1

Figures 2 and 3

Figure 4

John Sayers is a photographer who I found through the Bethlem Gallery who has potentially exhibited with them or been treated at the hospital. Unfortunately he has no website so I cannot located the names of his works or find any more information.

From my own interpretation, it seems that we are looking through his lived lens and his point of view. The camera is his lens. The lighting is often dark or washed out and the lens of the camera is pointed downwards looking at his hands or feet to avoid social interaction and suggest isolation and seclusion from his mental illness and depression. The photographs of him standing on ledges could suggest thoughts of suicide. One photo, Figure 4, looks up - setting itself apart from the rest of the portfolio in many ways along with the lighting only having one small light source. It's like a crack in the ceiling. Perhaps a higher being looking down, sayers looking up for any kind of sign or answer to his eternal moral questions. The lens flare, the expanse of dark and the small light source make us as the viewer feel small and insignificant. Despite the dar subject matter, he considers his composition in a balanced unity with plentiful strong light, a sense of depth and direction and careful consideration of where the audience will be looking in the photograph. There are cool tones and values, and a relationship with the exterior.

[LAUIL601] Artist Research: Antonia Attwood

 

Barriers

White noise plays, like a heart monitor machine, with a dull thud in the background like a heartbeat. A lay is trying to push agains the frosted glass and break free with her hands and face, smearing her red lipstick across the glass. Fast-paced footage of walking through a forest full of leaves is dispersed through this footage like flashbacks. The pace and footing makes it feel like there is a disconnect and we are groggy or under the influence of some kind of substance. 

The Void

Soft White Noise. Distorted shadow of a person plays which then intersects with hands opening and closing into fists. Mixture of dark against light confusing the senses. No faces are seen, only hands and the shadow of a head. 

Confusion

Screenshot taken from a video where a side profile shot of a man overlaps many times as he spins in a slow circle, to a distorted, soft sound on loop. It's rather minimalist with a very soft focus. Who is this person? 

Escape

Black and white, softly shot footage of bound hands is chopped together with a dimly-lit hospital ward with a fish-eye lens giving an idiosyncratic and first person point of view. We are rushing to get out. The sound is of someone thudding against a wall or door in the distance. This one is rather harrowing and hard to watch for me as someone who suffers from PTSD after emergency surgeries, who also wanted to escape. I was trapped in my own mind. This one is incredibly effective because of the hospital ward, the use of the closed off corners, someone banging on the door to get out and the really dark and murky lighting. It isn't pleasant and very uncomfortable. We are bidding for freedom. When we have it, in the form of forest trees, we are spinning in circles and feeling sick.

https://www.antoniaattwood.com

"Antonia is an UK and international artist, working with moving image and photography. Antonia’s body of work has developed a focus on illustrating and visually interpreting how mental illness ‘feels’ to individuals including herself. Using still, moving imagery and sound, it depicts the affects of chemical changes in the brain, and the phenomenology of mental illness. Her work explores how it feels for particular individuals to be vulnerable and overwhelmed by the world living with a medical condition. It is not about communicating a straightforward message, but rather sharing interpretations of experience of altered mind-states."

'Manifestations of the Mind is an innovative in-depth Arts and Mental Health project, made in partnership with an amazing set of people with ‘Lived Experience’ of Mental Illness. It focusses on exploring ways of communicating how their mental health conditions uniquely affect them and how they actually feel to those who experience them'.

I chose this artist and this work in particular as it is rather different from what I make but a very direct, immediate and effective interpretation of mental health issues. Through music, minimalistic sound, tone and moving image - abstract ideas are communicated with major impact as they are directed at a variety of senses all at once. With abstract expressionist canvas paintings such as I do, oftentimes it is up to the viewer to decide what they can see and pick out and feel. With these videos that Antonia creates, there isn't really a debate because the mood and tone is set through the pace it is shot, the speed of the music, the lighting and so on. It is instantaneous and powerful. 

[LAUIL601] Artist Research: George J Harding

My Body is a Boundary

Oil on Board

2016

• My Body is a Boundary: Mental illness and, specifically, depression is often referred to as the 'deep blue sea.' Harding has focused this oil painting on that particular theme through the use of an abstract figure - perhaps himself or someone close to him - by incorporating horizontal and vertical lines with deliberate thicknesses and relationships to convey ripples. There is a disharmony, compositionally, on the bottom half of the canvas suggesting a sinking or drowning feeling. Saturated and bright primary blue tones which is the only colour used, effectively portraying the deep blue sea of depression. A slowness and stillness of time, suggesting real time, in the flat deliberate motion of the blocking. Unbalanced, asymmetry on the left-side. Rhythmic water.

Happiness Projected 

Oil on Board

Undated

• Happiness Projected: This canvas renders the narrative of someone starting at their reflection in a mirror and projecting happiness onto their own face. Their nakedness and the steam on the mirror suggests pre-or-post shower reflection and perhaps and unhappiness with their body. Body-image issues? An eating disorder perhaps? Lines and forms are methodical, layered and considered and show a clear understanding of composition and painting realism. The canvas encompasses many medium and dark values, shadow-heavy and flat. Texturally there are many brush strokes in the shadows aside from in the light area - which is still tonally dark. The light suggests a camera flash. An unhappy person taking a selfie? Capturing a moment in time. The canvas is incredibly heavy, dense, and filled with information, with a particular asymmetrically on the right-side. 

Sunken

Oil on Board

2011

• Sunken: I feel this oil painting captures elements of the first two, in terms of composition, weight, theme,  asymmetry on the right-side, colour-palette, lighting, and so on. Certainly painted as part of a series in congruence to Happiness Projected.

[LAUIL601] Artist Research: Reginald Harrison

 

Figure 1

• Dense, full composition, very visual-heavy with focal point on the black triangle allowing the eye to move. Straight, diagonal, thick, bold lines against saturated colour palettes and intense patterns. Mixing human and animal facial features? Complimentary, both warm and cool colours, incredibly decorative. Repeated and implied pattern-work. Overlapping perspective and motion. While congested, there is a harmony to it.

Figure 2

• Focal point is the brown sphere around the eye to move up to the hidden eyes and around the mirrored patterns. Cool colour patterns. Flowing, thick contours. Contrasting, saturated values. A sense of liveliness. Hidden layers and meanings.

Figure 3

[All unnamed and undated and I can't find a website for him, but he has potentially exhibited at the Bethlem Gallery.]

Square canvases make full use of the composition space stretching to all parameters of the lens and the mind. Repeated motifs of facial features fractured with shapes. Like a kaleidoscope. Intersected. Busy, dense, confusing and never-ending. Commentary of tricks on the mind? Narrative of the lens of mental illness and living inside your own version of reality? Over-embellished - perhaps to show enhancement of the truth and making reality more bearable?

Figure 3 reminds me of my vision with light being too bright and shadow being very prominent because of the pressures on my retina. It's also very telling of something being in the corner and always there. Depression and dark feelings always looming around the corner. It's also slightly distorted and slightly stretches to the right. A distorted sense of reality and commentary on that.

I chose these pieces as the sense of the work is different from my own, but the themes and colour palettes aren't too dissimilar from my own. I also like to work within square parameters and find a sense of familiarity within that frame.

[LAUIL601] Artist Research: Terrence Wilde

 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

[All unnamed and undated]

Figure 1: Could be a self portrait. Unrecognisable self after trauma or eating disorders, looking in the mirror with mental illness. Hard to tell where our true authentic self begins and the trauma has taken other parts of us. Could be trying to recognise someone else through their mental illnesses. Seeing the world through a distorted lens. Who is a friend? Who is trustworthy? What is safe? Exaggerated body parts. The brain is exposed and the mouth is fractured, disabled. Unable to speak. Tonally and visually, a very dark and thought-provoking illustration. Monochrome, people are shades of grey.

Figure 2: Tonally in the same vein as the first illustration but depicting people as puppets or a Pierrot, a sad clown pining for love, and a stock character of pantomime and comedy. Dunce hat, connotations of foolishness, stupidity, humiliation, trauma. Dissections of the body revealing what's underneath - exposing ourselves and our vulnerabilities. Being open to then be humiliated by others.

Figures 3 and 4 are very abstract expressionist and remind me of the work I make in my own portfolio, unpicking my blindness and my new levels of sight after retinal detachment. Created in a soft focus and and blurring together of the senses, mixing colours to convey confusion of disorientation. Shapes and symbols are not physical or concrete and are not representational. It is more the feeling and intent. Figure 3 makes me feel a sense of warmth through the autumnal colours, there is a sense of space in the composition but the mark making gives the illusion of skeletons, bones and decaying physical forms, Hiding oneself away. Presenting something else on the surface. Perhaps this is the internal self?

Figure 4 is more cold, more loose. Centrally there is a shape or figure (two dark lines curving towards the lefts indicate legs moving, in the sense of the left direction) with an aura surrounding it. A sense of disorientation, displacement, dark thoughts, envelopment, being wrapped up. There are illustrative and naive qualities, with parts of the canvas coming through.The figure shifts in two places almost like being left behind. 

I chose this work as two of the pieces are different from the work that I make, but the themes of mental illness and trauma are the same, we just interpret it in different ways. Two of the pieces are very similar in aesthetics, composition and tone and they draw me in the most and attract my attention.

[LAUIL601] Secondary Research: SuperCreativity Podcast with James Taylor and Marcus du Sautoy - The Creativity Code :Art and Innovation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

 • Early on in his book, he shares Margaret Boden's framework for the 3 types of creativity

• Margaret Boden, Cognitive Scientist. Two parts to this - her definition of creativity, "That something should be new, surprising and have value."

• Marcus du Sautoy expands on these points from his own perspective as his starting definition. "Creativity is a hard to pin down word. Creativity is a tool for examining our consciousness. These three components. Engaging our emotions and looking at things in new ways. We have a machine-like way of living,"

• Margaret has an exploration of 3 sorts of creativity.

- Exploratory creativity: taking the rules of the game and pushing them to the extremes. Pushing those baroque rules. 

- Combinational creativity: Taking ideas from one area and and bringing them to another area to give a new way of looking at the world. Like fusion cooking. 

- Transformational creativity: Where something seems to appear out of nothing. A breaking of the system. A transition. A phase change.

• Creativity is the expression to be human.

[LAUIL601] Secondary Research: Art Journal - Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. Volume 36, 2019 - Issue 1.

Harvard Reference: Brown, P. M. & Cross, G. (2019) 'A Comparison of the Positive Effects of Structured and Nonstructured Art Activities'. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. Volume 36, 2019 - Issue 1. pp. 22-29. doi: 10.1080/07421656.2019.1564642 [Accessed: 19 May 2021]

https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=482dda1b-4926-493d-a8ec-dc81e77e062a%40sessionmgr102

‘Nonstructured art activity is thought to promote positive psychological effects through the underlying therapeutic mechanisms of self-expression, self-discovery, and meaning making’ pg 22

‘drawing freely produced greater mood improvements than writing because it functioned as a more effective form of distraction, as drawing invites people to “play with line and form” pg 23

Structured art activities such as colouring in mandalas can promote a meditative state of deep engagement and focused attention.

[LAUIL601] Secondary Research: Art Therapy Article by Dancier Cecila

 • Engaging in creativity increases brain function

• It decreases pain as pain starts in the brain

• Problem solving in a safe environment that isn't stressful. 

• Creative projects help us mentally. It takes up mental space from things that are stressful going through our minds. When we're stressed over something we think about it a lot because our brain is searching for answers and figure out how to make sense of it or what to do with it. Mental space is taken by worrying and ruminating. Using mental space for problem solving and creativity takes away that space from worrying and ruminating. 

• Emotionally. When we do something creative, we see the product of our labours. When we see that we have been productive and accomplished something, we're proud of it and we know how much hard work we have put into it. 

[LAUIL601] Primary Research: Open Minds - Mental Health in Leeds Online Exhibition

https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/virtual-visit/open-minds-online-exhibition/

• Open Minds explores the experience of mental health and mental illness in Leeds.

• Curated by the Preservative Party, Leeds City Museum’s volunteers aged 14-25, alongside members of the community. It is their voices you hear throughout the display.

• "We believe mental health is a really important topic to talk about because it effects each and every one of us daily."

• Mental health and Mental Illness - A Timeline:

- 1100's: Early asylums are established in Baghdad, Iraq, for people with ‘mental distress’.

- 1300's: The Priory of St Mary of Bethlehem in London is confiscated by Edward III and used for ‘lunatics’. It is the first known psychiatric hospital in Europe. The conditions are appalling.

- 1500's: Symptoms of mental illness are linked to witchcraft. Trephination is used as treatment for madness. A hole was drilled into the skull as it was believed this would let out evil spirits

- 1774: The Madhouses Act regulates private ‘madhouses’ and requires them to be licensed and inspected

- 1796: The York Retreat is founded by William Tuke. Following the treatment and death of Hannah Mills, the Quaker community developed the retreat as a response to the harsh conditions of asylums. Tuke pioneered humane treatment of the mentally ill, with moral treatment based on compassion, self-control, and respect. The building was designed to look like a house instead of a prison.

- 1818: The first West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum opens in Wakefield. Christopher Taylor is the first patient admitted to Wakefield Asylum. He previously worked as a milliner, also known as a hatter. Mercury was used in the production of hats, which often poisoned hatters and caused neurological damage. This is the origin of the phrase ‘mad as a hatter’.

- 1834: Poor Law Amendment Act changes the support for the poor by making relief available only to those in the workhouse. Workhouse conditions were intended to deter anyone from entering unless they were desperate. Many people who were struggling with their mental health and could not be cared for at home ended up in workhouses

- 1845: The Lunacy Act and the County Asylums Act change the face of mental health law forever. For the first time people with mental illness receive the status of ‘patient’. The law also requires every asylum to employ a doctor

- 1888: The West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Menston opens. Initially it takes patients from Wadsley Asylum, which is overcrowded. It has its own library, surgery, butchers, bakery, upholsterers, cobblers, farm, laundry, tailors and even a small railway system.1910: In a letter to the Prime Minister, H.H. Asquith, Winston Churchill (then Home Secretary) favours confinement, segregation and sterilisation of ‘the feeble minded’.

- 1914: The outbreak of the First World War puts enormous pressure on medical facilities everywhere. Asylums in Yorkshire begin accepting ‘service patients’ who are suffering from shell shock

- 1930: The Mental Treatment Act recommends the use of out-patient clinics and officially replaces the term ‘asylum’ with ‘mental hospital’

- 1939-1945: World War Two puts further pressure on the world’s medical capacity and increases stress and trauma on people. In Nazi controlled Europe the Aktion T4 programme authorises the killing of people with physical disabilities and mental illnesses.

- 1948: The new National Health Service (NHS) makes healthcare, including mental healthcare, free at the point of delivery.

- 1959: The Mental Health Act defines ‘mental disorder’ for the first time and distinguishes it from learning disabilities. It also seeks to deinstitutionalise patients and develop community care.

- 1970: Bill from Leeds visits his GP as he suspects he is gay. The doctor arranges aversion therapy treatment for him at Lancaster Moor Hospital. He is shown slides of men whilst being given an electric shock. Bill gives up after a few weeks because he thinks it is ‘a total waste of time’. He moves back to Leeds and joins the Gay Liberation movement. Bill’s story was shared as part of the West Yorkshire Queer Stories project.

- 1981: Community Links is established in Leeds. Initially it is a project to support tenants of homeless hostels who feel unable to cope in the wider community. It becomes a charity and later expands its role to become an award winning non-profit provider of mental health and wellbeing services in Yorkshire and the Humber

- 1999: The National Service Framework for Mental Health is launched. It describes the standards and guidelines for mental healthcare for the next ten years.

- 2006: Work begins to convert the High Royds Hospital buildings into apartments and houses.

- 2010: The Equality Act protects people from discrimination.

- 2020: Emergency changes are made to the Mental Health Act as a response to Coronavirus emergency. These temporarily affect the amount of time a patient can be remanded in hospital for, and the number of doctors required to detain a patient.

• Objects and Stories: Key objects ranging from the early 20th Century to 2020 which represent the different ways in which we have come to understand and treat mental health and mental illness across different decades.

 

Hydrotherapy Bath

- Hydrotherapy bath: earthly 20th century, used to treat a variety of mental illnesses. Would boil and freeze patients in cycles.

- Electroconvulsive Therapy Machine (1938) ECT) was developed by Italian neurologist Ugo Carletti, who was convinced that induced convulsions were useful for treating schizophrenia. It was first used in the UK in 1939 and quickly becomes a popular treatment for a wide variety of mental illnesses.

Trauma sketches from West Yorkshire Police

- West Yorkshire Police sketches from trauma support resource (undated) "When we experience a traumatic event, our bodies react and create a stress response which makes us feel a number of different symptoms. Whilst our responses to trauma usually only last a few minutes or hours, in some situations these feelings of shock and fear can last for much longer or be retriggered. These drawings were produced by West Yorkshire Police Occupational Health Team to support members of staff who have been involved in traumatic incidents at work."

- Support group posters and leaflets: "Charities such as Andy’s Man Club provide people with a safe place to talk about how they feel. Ex-Leeds Rhinos player Luke Amber created Andy’s Man Club in 2016 after losing his brother in law, Andy Roberts, to suicide. It encourages talking groups for men over 18."

• Films

Two short animated films are included in the online exhibition Center Ed around body image and isolation, under the wider theme of mental health. 

- Body image: "Body Image is a theme of the Open Minds display. Both animations explore isolation, but this animation looks at how isolated you can feel when you are struggling with your body image." The short animation tells the personal story of someone with anorexia who pushed friends and family away to be with their own negative thought process. Food can be a social thing and it's hard to do when you have an eating disorder. From my own experience I know that feeling of needing to be in control but ultimately, the eating disorder controls you in a very negative way. It provides links to bEAT and Samaritans.

- Isolation: "During lockdown we discussed the impact of isolation on all of us. The Preservative Party decided to produce an animation which would explore isolation experiences, and how these can affect us all, regardless of the physical constraints of lockdown. We gathered several anonymous isolation stories and voiced these ourselves, from the comfort of our own isolated lockdown locations." This short video and animation told many different experiences of isolation, not just isolating because of the pandemic; feeling isolated because of a disability and not being like your peers, having limitations and feeling boring while others move on (this one really hit home for me and I had to pause the video), feeling isolated when someone became a new parent and they had many new responsibilities, isolation from being away from their twin, and so on. The video ends with useful information to SHOUT and Samaritans.

• Positive Illustrations

The final part of the online exhibition space was a small series of positive illustrations from a young person, Holly Lanforth. ‘I have done some illustrations with positive messages for mental health as I have been reflecting on how we can have an inner critic in our minds and sometimes we all need reminders that we have worth and value and no matter what happened in the past, we deserve mercy and forgiveness.’ 

My critique: They are in a very naive style and appear to be on sketchbook paper (with the ring binder appearing in some photos) using fine liners and felt tips alluding to her being of school age. They mimic the popular style seen on Pinterest and Instagram of mindful bullet journaling that was a craze from 2016 to 2020. I'm not sure if it's as popular as it was. She has page spreads for spring cleaning, things to remember, sensory overload, self-soothing, reward stickers, positive affirmations, places to travel, goals, and emojis. My personal critique of these is how much internet time infiltrates the self-soothing section (listening to ASMR videos, natural sounds, etc. Going on Pinterest for collages) and how emojis and a bullet journal style are from the internet too. It shows how deeply embedded it has become into young people's lives and how it influences the work they make.

Reflection of exhibition: Having access to a free and accessible online exhibition with various media and information has added another dimension to my research and I'm grateful to have something like this while we're still in a bit of an uncertain landscape. I particularly got value from the timeline and learning more from a local perspective of Yorkshire hospitals which may help my writing. 

[LAUIL601] Reflective Report 2 - Part 2 (519 words)

For this past couple of weeks, I have been working incredibly hard to pull myself back together again and get this module back on track after experiencing an incredibly tough year of mental hardship. I finally got Tami back home after 7 months apart on March 22nd, with my heart aching every second without her, and my mental health built from strength to strength in that first week together again. My confidence grew so much once we were a pair again and I could start having my freedom outside.

I was able to start researching starting the first week of April and really forming the foundation and framework of this project through a variety of sources. Now I can finally reflect and give a much better "reflective report 2" than back in November.

Back in October I started my project rather openly, focusing on the very wide subject matter of art and mental health. It's such a huge field which is very easy to get lost in and is so difficult to navigate. Where do you start? I got very overwhelmed back then and, paired with all of my experiences - much worse to come, gave up. After experiencing so much trauma this year through separation from my Guide Dog, cyberbullying, the third year anniversary of my mum's severe stroke and reliving that day on February 5th, and my mum revealing to me that she was finding it difficult to cope in lockdown as a stroke survivor - developing some unhealthy and dangerous coping mechanisms - I decided to narrow down that scope and zoom in on art therapy and PTSD / trauma. That's very much been my lived experience this year and creating art, through my canvas paintings, is the one thing that has kept me going.

The research I have undertaken so far includes taking notes from podcasts, TEDx Talks on YouTube from real art therapists, conversing with a professional art therapist, note taking from a book on art therapy and PTSD, compiling case studies from practitioners and peers, unpicking what art therapy is and isn't, learning the science behind why our brain behaves the way it does because of trauma, and learning about stress hormones abd reducing them through mindfulness. I've found all of this to be fulfilling work and very beneficial to my growth as a person and an artist.

Since my last reflective report, the practical direction has strengthened even further - developing from my experiences with cyberbullying and commemorating the anniversary of my mum's stroke. I consider these to be "final pieces" that really pushed the boundaries of the type of work I could produce, through a series of monoprints, an audio poem collaborating with a musician, and a circular canvas painting.

The final steps now are to continue with the essay plan I have, to build the meat on the skeleton and to start writing. I need to Harvard Reference my sources into a bibliography and to also evidence my to-do lists that I make each and every single day to motivate myself. I'm so close to getting this completed!

I'm aiming for submission around mid-June.

[LAUIL601] Art Therapy Essay Plan

 Introduction

• Introduce the writing

• Alexithymia

Art Therapy

• What is Art Therapy?

• The British artist Adrian Hill coined the term art therapy in 1942. Hill, recovering from tuberculosis in a sanatorium, discovered the therapeutic benefits of drawing and painting while convalescing.

• What Does it Entail? / How Does It Work?

"Visual image making is an important aspect of the human learning process" - Diane Waller

• Research tells us that that image-making is a powerful cognitive experience, stimulating and enhancing memory.

• People accessing art therapy is not a sign of weakness or sickness but a sign of strength and survival. Human beings are brave, forgiving, and resilient. Everyone faces challenges every day but we all cope differently.

• SurveyMonkey results

• Art Therapy with Trauma. What is Trauma? What is my experience with trauma? Look at Trauma and symptoms of trauma

memory loss

• Avoidance

• Expressive arts are a natural relaxant for the body's nervous system (trauma and every day stress). Reduce cortisol, lower blood pressure, regulate heart rate, decrease pain perception.

• Research tells us that that image-making is a powerful cognitive experience, stimulating and enhancing memory. It also helps those most traumatised to be able to tell their stories. In fact, creating a drawing helps to stimulate 2 to 3 times more language than talking alone.

• My observations and how it links with my practice: 

- Vulnerability: Art making decreases your defences. “Go vulnerable or go home” Heard this brilliant motto today and I’m subscribing! Vulnerability can be our greatest strength; when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable we embrace our authentic self daring acceptance and gaining empowerment.

- Authenticity: This is why I enjoy this way of working. Be authentic in your expression. Do not copy, imitate or mimic me or other people. All you'll achieve is an echo. Stay true to you. What do you want to say in your own artistic tone of voice? You can do amazing things. But you won't get there by painting by numbers a piece that has already been created. Expressionism is raw, it is messy and it is visceral.

- Symbolism

"Repair the body's experience of trauma"

• Music is the only art form that uses and activates the entire brain. Remedy for trauma as it can lift you out of depression. It enlivens you, it brings back memories, and it's a powerful pain reducer. 

• Link Helen Frankenthaler and how she favours things being made in one go; not overworked. Me too. Synthesising with that authenticity.

• Misconceptions of art therapy:

Art therapy is not to be confused with the trend of adult colouring books which primary aim is to entertain as a leisure activity

• The Cons of an Art Therapy Career: 

- Investment is high. Art therapy career has a high investment when you get into it. ...

- Relatively Low Pay. Like several other mental health careers, the pay for art therapist is relatively low, especially in the beginning. ...

- Poor job outlook. ...

- Others don't know what you do. ...

- In conclusion.

Case Studies

• Myself and my idiosyncratic lens; the work I've created during cyberbullying. "The Girl Who Cannot See"

• Roberta Fraggle of SHOOK Magazine

• Inkwell Arts Service User

• Professional Art Therapist, Dr. Dianne Simpson-Basquez (may move this around to main body of work to support claims?)

• SurveyMonkey results (May move this around to main body of work to support claims?)

Conclusion

• A picture is worth a thousand words - bring that anecdote back

• Drawing everything together

• Perhaps talk of how I've struggled a lot during this module

• When people are looking for a trauma remedy, the biggest evidence has come from people themselves. When given a choice of "treatments," patients repeatedly chose these forms of self expression because they cite improvement of their quality of life and sense of well-being. This is probably the most powerful evidence of all. And talk of my own experience again.

Bibliography

• Alphabetised 

• Academic Journals, Podcasts, Websites

[LAUIL601] Secondary Research: Expressive Arts Therapy and Trauma: Movement, Sound, Image, Performance with Cathy Malchiodi, PhD

https://youtu.be/SutB72QBvZs

Video posted on 23rd September 2020

• Four core healing processes: movement, sound, storytelling through image and silence through contemplative and self-regulatory practices. 
• To restore the self
• Very relevant right now with the pandemic and with social unrest but also around the world. People are using the arts to address this.
• Geneva has one of the oldest Expressive Arts Therapy programs in the world
• Expressive Arts Therapy is the purposeful use of movement, music, image-making, performance, play, writing and imagination in healthcare, psychotherapy and wellness that communities may engage in. Very diverse in where it's practiced which includes education. 
• Neuroscience has taught us that we need to 'come to our senses' through developing effective components for addressing trauma.
• In expressive arts therapy, the senses, capitalising on all of the arts, can be a starting point for trauma repair and recovery.
• And because of neuroscience, we now know why this approach is fundamental to address trauma in individuals and communities of all ages.
• Over the past 10-15 years we have seen proof that talking about our trauma is simply not enough to fully recover and that we need to use the senses. The arts are all about the senses including visual, hearing, tactile.
• Art therapy isn't just for children and is for all ages.
• Another thread of evidence alongside neuroscience is that cultures have regulated themselves throughout time, throughout thousands of years, using these kinds of artistic rituals, conventions, procedures and ceremonies to respond directly to trauma and loss. Evidence is not just in the brain. Many studies now show how things work through neuroscience and neurobiology but our main evidence is cultural anthropology and ethnology. Humans have always used these practices to return to psychological, psychical and social equilibrium. 
• Cathy's personal research is how these categories fall. There's visual art, music, drama, dance, these things overlap sometimes into universal healing practices throughout time. 
• Movement - cultural practices of dancing, yoga, chanting, energy arts such as tai chi, cultural practices such as hula and sundance. Experiences that involve soothing repetition, have familiarity, and connect people to each other.
• Common art experiences such as music, drumming, singing, and chanting are effective in trauma repair and recovery.
• Contemporary example shows a video of a crowd of people in response to the death of George Floyd advocating against police brutality; chanting and drumming, moving snd clapping. Cultural practice to honour an individual and to be active.
• Sound. Music is the only art form that uses and activates the entire brain. Remedy for trauma as it can lift you out of depression. It enlivens you, it brings back memories, and it's a powerful pain reducer. 
• Singing, humming, drumming, listening, playing instruments, vibration and chanting/prayer.
• Storytelling. Research tells us that that image-making is a powerful cognitive experience, stimulating and enhancing memory. It also helps those most traumatised to be able to tell their stories. In fact, creating a drawing helps to stimulate 2 to 3 times more language than talking alone.
• Kadir Nelson for the New Yorker cover - George Floyd. Imagery is a powerful and popular way to tell stories. 
• Silence. Mindfulness, meditation, contemplation, art making in silence, yoga, witnessing the arts perhaps at an art gallery or museum, theatre or performance. 
• Expressive arts are a natural relaxant for the body's nervous system (trauma and every day stress). 
• Reduce cortisol, lower blood pressure, regulate heart rate, decrease pain perception.
• Bring us into healthy synchrony with ourselves and others and can even and entrain us to the same heart rhythm.
• When people are looking for a trauma remedy, the biggest evidence has come from people themselves. When given a choice of "treatments," patients repeatedly chose these forms of self expression because they cite improvement of their quality of life and sense of well-being. This is probably the most powerful evidence of all.

Reflection: 

This links to my work quite heavily. I listen to music while I'm working (I now know from my research that music is the only art form to use the entire brain) and I also feel like I'm moving. I'm swaying while I'm working and reacting to the song, then interpreting my experiences into the canvas. Writing through haikus, poetry and deep thought and combining these things into my practice to unpick my trauma and move forward. The repetition brings a sense of harmony and relaxation. All of this will be incredibly useful for my essay. 

[LAUIL601] Secondary Research: TEDx Talks - An Insight Into Art Therapy with Cindy Harjatanaya

https://youtu.be/etanmN_9wU8

Video posted on 18th August 2020

• Adult colouring books are mistaken for art therapy. Colouring books are predrawn images that allow and invite people to colour by numbers with markers, crayons or colouring pencils. The goal of the colouring book is to provide a leisure activity and entertainment. It can be therapeutic and fun but it isn't for everyone. Why? People who are anxious do not like the structure. The rigidity of the lines. There are boundaries. Limited creativity. Comparable to sudoku or a crossword puzzle.
• Another misconception of art therapy is that a therapist can interpret a piece of artwork and that their personality and things they have been through can be seen immediately. That's not true or what art therapy is. Drawing one person does not indicate loneliness and using red doesn't indicate anger. 
• Art therapy is not psychology and it is two different distinct professions with a masters degree and training. Art therapists are not psychologists but work together and alongside them, with psychiatrists and other social workers.
• Another misconception is that art therapy is thought of as the same as art education; that going to art therapy is like going to art class. In art education you are taught to hone your artistic skills, how to make good composition, portraits, landscapes. In art therapy no previous art experience is needed to be involved in the therapy. What is important is how the client expresses themselves, makes sense of their art, and how they make connections between their art and inner life.
• The goal of art therapy is to give support to people with mental, emotional, social, and behavioural issues in their every day lives
• What is art therapy? Art therapy combines two big disciplines - art and therapy. Art and psychology. Psychotherapy uses verbal means as a way to communicate between the therapies and client. In art therapy, visual means are used for expression and communication. The creative process is used to look at the relationship between the client, therapist and artwork.
• How does art therapy work? Clients art asked to give their thoughts and feelings and make them into forms. How would we put our happiness, anger and fear into forms? What does it look like? Image making is an excellent tool when the words are hard to find, even more so when someone has experienced an unpleasant trauma. Or overwhelmed by grief, for example. When the kids cannot be expressed in words. Or when a child cannot talk about a parents' divorce or even understand divorce. How do we start to process and explain our feelings? If we struggle to do so, we can illustrate it in drawing or in painting. When someone needs to work through and release anger, not by hurting people or destroying materials, but through markmaking and strokes.
• Art therapy gives someone the complete freedom to talk about their story in their own way. If it's too scary to talk about, like an abuser, a bully, or a sickness they are fighting with, it can be illustrated in forms of monsters, animals, or objects that they can relate to and face.
• The use of metaphors and symbols helps to share their stories.
• Many people find relief that they can choose to stay quiet and channel their energies and feelings in a safe and productive manner.
• Expressing yourself is a release. When creating art it becomes tangible and psychical - you can see and touch your problem and you have the chance to contemplate, reflect and find coping strategies. Growth and healing comes from uncovering those coping skills. An example given is that self harm doesn't have to be a coping mechanism and self worth can be found in the creative process instead. I relate to this too. Being creative has decreased my self harm.
• A client's investment can be seen in art therapy by the way they put effort into the artwork, how they treat the art work.
• Art therapists do not interpret or judge. They oversee the creative process, give tools for expression, provide unconditional listening, guidance and a safe environment for reflection so that change can happen.
• Other members of the family are invited to the sessions - parents, siblings, children, partners - to work on the strains and pressures of the relationship and to reconnect again.
• Clients of art therapy can be anyone who needs it. 60% of children show they struggle with developmental, behavioural, and emotional issues. Many adolescents struggle with mental health, suicidal thoughts and self harming. Adults suffer with mental health issues and personality disorders. From the data, mental health concerns can happen to anyone at any age. 
• There is still a stigma that anyone involved with art, play or the creative process is of a young age. Art therapy can be done by anybody, toddler to elderly, with mental health or health concerns. Individually, in groups, or in couples. 
• Art therapy is just one of the available therapies out there. Method may be different but goal is the same - to have a more fulfilling life and good mental health. That the developmental, emotional, social milestones are being met and that we know how to cope with problems when they arise.
• Mentally good people can function positively at home, at work, at school, and in society.
• The concern is real for mental health and there are many communities, campaigns and organisations that prove people often neglect there mental health. There seems to be embarrassment surrounding seeing a doctor when we are mentally unwell which stops people accessing the help that they need.
• People accessing art therapy is not a sign of weakness or sickness but a sign of strength and survival. Human beings are brave, forgiving, and resilient. Everyone faces challenges every day but we all cope differently.
• "Visual image making is an important aspect of the human learning process" - Diane Waller
• Art making is not only for artistic people and definitely not only for children. Making creations is part of being human and art has been around since the Cavemen period.  

Reflection: I found the opening with adult colouring books very poignant and I resonated with it deeply. I could never get into the trend myself as a perfectionist and with my dwindling eyesight. I didn't want to "ruin" these pretty outlines and nothing about them really calmed me. I enjoyed colouring books as a child but I cannot use them now my retinas have detached. Self harm was an interesting point that was raised and I relate to that - how art therapy helped a client to realise their worth and that there are other coping strategies. How people treat their art work was another interesting point. My artwork has become my portfolio. Raw, authentic and genuine art created in my most vulnerable moments.

[LAUIL601] Secondary Research: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Art Therapy by Dr. Amy Backos

NOTES FROM BOOK

Backos, A (2021) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Art Therapy. London: Jessica Kingsley

Publishers

Chapter 1 – PTSD, acute stress and context

WHO has defined PTSD using five key symptoms; ‘hyperarousal including startle reactions,

intrusive thoughts, memories or dreams about the traumatic event, feelings of

numbness…and detachment, anhedonia/lack of pleasure and avoidance and fear of people,

places and situations which are reminders of the trauma’ (WHO, 2019 cited in Backos, 2021,

pg40)

Chapter 2 – stages of therapy to treat PTSD

- Pg 61

Trauma-focused art

They look at details of client’s traumatic experience – sights, sounds, smells, bodily

sensations

- Pg 62

Maslow’s psychological needs pyramid

Esteem is divided into aesthetic and cognitive needs

Aesthetic needs include seeking out beauty and taking time to appreciate it

A lifeline art intervention – clients create a timeline during art therapy of their

significant life events which helps them reflect on how past experiences are only

part of their past experience, not all of who they are

- Art therapies such as doll making (pg 65) and mask making (Ted Talk) seem more

relevant to people with sight and people who can perceive the world with two fully

working eyes.

Chapter 3 – art therapy to address PTSD and acute stress

- ‘Art therapists have long understood that artmaking provides a means of knowing

oneself, processing upsetting experiences and consolidating memories, feelings, and

sensations into meaningful narratives’ (Backos, 2021, pg 71)

- Traumatic memories become fragmented and art therapy offers a non-verbal way of

offering a resolution – clients do not have to talk about it, they can make in response

to what has happened

- There are a wide range of art therapy approaches to trauma developed by

practitioners working in the field

Visual dialogue – looking at the relationship between symbols in art and

psychological diagnosis, Spring discovered more reoccurring forms of disembodied

eyes and wedge shapes in the group who had experienced sexual trauma as opposed

to the controlled group that weren’t (pg84)

Chapter 6 – avoidance

- People with trauma tend to avoid people, places and other reminders of what

caused their pain, but this only means they make less progress.

‘However, we cannot conceptualize a client’s symptom of avoidance as resistance to

therapy’ (Backos, 2021, pg155). Not a personal or moral failing.

- A picture is worth a thousand words (pg 156)

- In a case study from Backos’s book, an art therapy client was told by her art therapist

to draw a bridge which is a form of visualising themselves, it is individual where they

place themselves on the bridge, at the beginning, end or even hanging off it. It is

individual to the client how they present themselves. This shows how art therapy

does not put pressure on you to express your thoughts and feelings and provides a

safe space to describe how you are feeling which says more than you ever could

through words. (pg 157)

- ‘The first stage of grieving is denial, and this holds true when someone learns about

a significant health diagnosis’ (Backos, 2021, pg 159)