Phototherapy and Therapeutic Photography in a Digital Age

Del Loewenthal and his colleagues take the reader on an odyssey from the origins of their techniques, through history, and into photography as part of the arts-based research and practice of today. If a book about those subjects is to be written, then these are the persons who should do so. Providing an excellent overview of phototherapy and therapeutic photography, Loewenthal's Phototherapy and Therapeutic Photography in a Digital Age is a necessary read for anyone who is preparing for a career in arts-based therapies. As a historical treatise on photo-based therapeutic approaches, this book is effective. - Seifer & Kaelber, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 58, August 2013

A remarkable and revelatory book on a truly amazing practice. Phototherapy is an international therapeutic modality combining a focus on self-image, an interest in otherness, and the release of creative and imaginative aids to healing. It shares in both the optimistic, positive ethos of humanistic psychology and the tragic vision and scepticism of psychoanalysis. Moreover, it is situated in the world ‘out there’ and also in the internal world. Hence numerous therapeutic approaches can learn much from phototherapy – I certainly did, for the book was an eye-opener and I hope it is read by all in the ‘psy’ field. - Andrew Samuels, Professor of Analytical Psychology University of Essex; Former Chair, United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy

This collection offers valuable insights into the development of phototherapy in Europe and North America and its fascinating reports from the field bring us right up to the present – to the structures of feeling displayed by a photo-saturated, socially-networked digital age. Practitioners, theorists, teachers, community workers, artists, and anyone interested in photographic experience will benefit greatly from this thought-provoking book. - Martha Langford, author of Suspended Conversations: The Afterlife of Memory in Photographic Albums and Scissors, Paper, Stone: Expressions of Memory in Contemporary Photographic Art

We have all experienced moments as therapists when words alone do not seem to be enough. This book opens up the possibilities of digital photography as another way of working. This will be a valuable addition to any therapist's tool kit. - Professor Tim Bond, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol

We know how powerful images are and how subtly they can influence our view of the world. We are surrounded by images, by photographs and film, more so now in the digital era when most mobile phones can also be used as cameras and images transferred immediately from one person to many. Yet their use within psychotherapy and counselling is relatively unexplored. Arts therapists have begun to encourage clients to use film and photography, computers and IPads to facilitate image making as these may be more familiar than ‘traditional’ art materials. This exciting book could bridge the gap between the arts therapies and verbal psychotherapy to the considerable benefit of clients – and practitioners. - Professor Diane Waller OBE, Emeritus Professor of Art Psychotherapy, Goldsmiths, University of London, visiting Professor, Imperial College, London

Del Loewenthal and his colleagues take the reader on an odyssey from the origins of their techniques, through history, and into photography as part of the arts-based research and practice of today. If a book about those subjects is to be written, then these are the persons who should do so. Providing an excellent overview of phototherapy and therapeutic photography, Loewenthal's Phototherapy and Therapeutic Photography in a Digital Age is a necessary read for anyone who is preparing for a career in arts-based therapies. As a historical treatise on photo-based therapeutic approaches, this book is effective. - Seifer & Kaelber, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 58, August 2013