Development and Diversity

Art Therapy is increasingly recognised as an important contributor to psychotherapy and dynamic counselling and is widening its sphere of practice and application. Art Therapists are working not just within traditional psychiatric services but within the fields of social and community care and in specialist areas such as prisons. Increasingly, art therapists are dealing with specific problems ranging from child abuse to eating disorders, often as members of multidisciplinary teams or special units. This new collection represents some of the best and most interesting examples of the widening application of art therapy. The contributors - all experienced art therapists - cover such topics as family trauma, work with children with learning difficulties and with autism, with criminal offenders, anorexics, the sexually abused with people who stammer. The new developments represented in this book have implications not just for the profession of art therapy but also for methods of practice. They point up the challenge of new methodologies which focus on process rather than on the finished image. They remind practitioners how stylistic and aesthetic elements, as well as content, can provide therapeutic insights. Providing a rich diversity of approach, this collection will be required reading for all students and practitioners requiring the broadest and most up-to-date statement of the current status of art therapy.