This article presents a rationale for using expressive art therapy with clients, and presents many of the forms and techniques that can be used. Included are discussions on art and drawing, play, sand tray work, writing. and storytelling. Resources for additional learning are recommended.Expressive art therapy attempts to reach clients with various problems through artistic expression of what lies within, and to fulfill the human need for selfexpression in a society that is becoming increasingly mechanized. Expressive art therapy is a vehicle for awakening dormant creativity, whereas psychotherapy assists clients in verbalizing their unspoken and unresolved conflicts. It contributes to restoring the cognitivehntellectual, emotionallaffect, and creativehnspiration vacuums in today's stress-driven, technological, impersonal, and often unsafe world.Expressive art therapy can lead clients of all ages to a better understanding of their unconscious through interpretation of developmental phases and of psychic structure as shown in their art work. Expressive art therapy is a means for accessing hidden resources and provides clients with a vehicle for expressing their internal conflicts and to do so throughout their life span. These therapies also help in the study of the ego (Kramer, 1993), as indicated by art therapists who have become aware of the relationship between graphic form and character development. With the introduction of psychoanalytic ego psychology, art therapists were able to recognize that inner consistency had a direct correlation with the unified expression of form and content in their clients' art work. The stronger the ego, the more cohesive the form and content become.In general, children are more receptive to expressive art therapy than adult clients who prefer an intellectual, verbal approach (Coleman & Farris-Dufrene, 1996), although clients of all ages can benefit from it. As in verbally oriented therapy, the relationship between the client and the counselor is the main factor in the progress and course of therapy. The dynamics between the two people are the primary tools, whether the client is talking to the therapist, playing with toys, or remaining quiet. The constancy is the presence of the therapist. Beverly A. Snyder is an assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to
In this article, the author suggests it is possible for older persons to renew community connections with storytelling and, through this means, to ask some compelling questions. The answers to these questions provide a sense of meaning and purpose for a llfe well lived.The last stage of life provides an individual with the opportunity to approach the crucial tasks of adjusting to many losses, maintaining outside interests, and adjusting to retirement. Erikson (1959) noted that successful resolution of this stage occurs when individuals can look back on the past and feel few or no regrets. During this stage, it is useful to ask questions that are central to one's spiritual development. Some frequently posed questions include, "What are we?" "Where did we come from?" "Where are we going?" and perhaps even, "How do we celebrate positive development, creative expression, and spirituality over the life span?" Like the Greek god Janus, the psychology of aging has two faces looking in opposite directions.One looks backward-the hermaneutic, interpretative gaze in which we discover where we have been and find what the best of cultural traditions can offer to understand old age. The other face looks forward-with an emancipatory interest in "conscious aging," in late-life creativity, and in positive growth over the life span.Looking both backward and forward can produce ample material for fruitful storytelling: memories on the one hand, creativity and imagination on the other. Joseph Campbell (1972) asserted that this is an age-old truth, and wisdom tales from every culture point to the importance of storytelling as a way of making meaning and sense out of our lives. "We are all
It is difficult to continue working in the area of social justice and equal rights for any length of time without a vision for the future that inspires hope and continued activism. Without a vision of a just and equitable future for all, it is also difficult, if not impossible, to successfully accomplish goals for social justice and freedom. Those of us who worked to prepare this special issue propose a vision of a just and equitable future and suggest that creating this vision needs to be a continued, collaborative effort engaged in by women and men of all races, cultures, classes, and orientations for the good of all and the survival of the planet.This vision was inspired by Patricia Lynn Reilly's (1999) woman-affirming book and poem Imagine a Woman in Love With Herself, by bell hooks's (2000) thoughtful treatise Feminism is for Everybody, and by countless other works from the pioneering women and men who write and work in the area of women's human rights and social justice. We gratefully acknowledge their contributions and encourage all readers to actively imagine and create this vision of a just and equitable future. Imagine a FutureImagine a future in which all girls and boys are able and encouraged to form an identity free of sexist, racist, classist, ableist, and heterosexist prejudices and expectations; in which all girls and boys are equally supported to explore their emotional, relational, spiritual, cultural, intellectual, and vocational needs, talents, and capacities; and a future in which all girls and boys, women and men, feel safe and free from exploitation, violence, and victimization and are encouraged to thrive within environments of mutual respect and encouragement.Imagine a future in which all women and men are equally supported in their desires for meaningful, sustainable work and healthy relationships; in which all women and men are given equal opportunities to fulfill their vocational, relational, cultural, spiritual, intellectual, and emotional needs, talents, and capacities; and a future in which all women and men receive an equitable and livable wage for the work they do and in which paid or unpaid work with children and older adults is acknowledged and rewarded as vitally important to the sustainability of our future.Imagine a future in which parents consciously decide to have children and willingly share in the fulfillment of the responsibilities inherent in those choices and a future in which all children are parented with love, respect, and nonviolent discipline-where parent and child relationships are free from verbal, physical, sexual, and emotional exploitation and abuse and where children are encouraged to make healthy choices and learn from the consequences of their choices.Imagine a future in which all women and men acknowledge the privileges that are awarded to them on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, class, gender, age, sexual orientation, and ability and strive to ameliorate those privileges by continuing to increase their understanding and to work diligently for t...
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