Aesthetics in art therapy: theory into practice

An Introduction of Sorts or All Sorts of Introductions

“…Since those early, pioneering days in the United States of America and Great Britain, art therapists have embraced the power of art as a way of knowing and transformation (e.g. Allen, 1992Allen, , 1995Allen, , 2001Gilroy, 1992;Henley, 1992;Hyland-Moon, 2002;McNiff, 1981Moon, 2006;Maclagan, 2001;Robbins, 1987;Schaverien, 1992).…”

“…Around the same time in the USA, Robbins wrote The Artist as Therapist (1987), a classic text on integrating aesthetics and psychodynamics into the therapeutic process, and McNiff authored The Arts and Psychotherapy (1981), proposing an expressive arts perspective where all arts forms and therapies are in unity. Henley (1992) and Allen (1992Allen ( , 1995 also highlighted the role of art and aesthetics in art therapy.…”

Existential Authenticity

“…, 2 articles on existential authenticity in psychotherapy (Henley, 1992;Miars, 2002), 2 articles on Jewish existential authenticity (Charme´, 1984(Charme´, -1985Poria, 2006), and 7 articles on existential authenticity in travel-related contexts (Berdychevsky, Gibson, & Poria, 2013;Brown, 2013;Buchmann, Moore, & Fisher, 2010;Cook, 2010;Griffith, 2011;Jia, 2009;Kolar & Zabkar, 2010).…”

“…Existential authenticity is an important psychological concept that is seldom mentioned in psychological publications. Although 1,580 publications on “existential authenticity” can be found in Google Scholar , only 14 such publications can be found in PsycINFO : 3 articles on existential authenticity in business contexts (Algera & Lips-Wiersma, 2012; Lewis, 2013; Mason, 2012), 2 articles on existential authenticity in psychotherapy (Henley, 1992; Miars, 2002), 2 articles on Jewish existential authenticity (Charmé, 1984–1985; Poria, 2006), and 7 articles on existential authenticity in travel-related contexts (Berdychevsky, Gibson, & Poria, 2013; Brown, 2013; Buchmann, Moore, & Fisher, 2010; Cook, 2010; Griffith, 2011; Jia, 2009; Kolar & Zabkar, 2010).…”