Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy provides an arts-based approach to the theory and practice of expressive arts therapy. The book explores the various expressive arts therapy modalities both individually and in relationship to each other. The contributors emphasize the importance of the imagination and of aesthetic experience, arguing that these are central to psychological well-being, and challenging accepted views which place primary emphasis on the cognitive and emotional dimensions of mental health and development. Part One explores the theory which informs the practice of expressive arts therapy. Part Two relates this theory to the therapeutic application of the expressive arts (including music, art, movement, drama, poetry and voicework) in different contexts, ranging from play therapy with children to trauma work with Bosnian refugees and second-generation Holocaust survivors. Comprehensive in its coverage of the most fundamental aspects of expressive arts therapy, this book is a significant contribution to the field and a useful reference for all practitioners.
Part 1 Philosophical and theoretical perspectives: Poiesis and postmodernism - the search for a foundation in expressive arts therapy, Stephen K. Levine; Soul-nourishment or the metabolism of psyche - a broad concept of diet and medicine, Paolo J. Knill; Ethics and aesthetics - the necessity of form, Majken Jacoby; Artistic inquiry - research in expressive arts therapy, Shaun McNiff. Part 2 Clinical perspectives: Voicework as therapy - the artistic use of singing and vocal sound to heal mind and body, Paul Newham; The creative connection - a holistic expressive arts process, Natalie Rogers; Living artfully - movement as an integrative process, Daria Halprin; Layer upon layer - a therapeutic experience in the art studio, Annette Brederode; Music as mother - the mothering function of music through expressive and receptive avenues, Margareta Warja; Between imagination and belief poetry as therapeutic intervention, Margo Fuchs; Poetry in the oral tradition - serious play with words, Elizabeth McKim; Theatre of the Holocaust, Yacov Naor; In exile from the body, Melinda Asher-Meyer; On the play-ground - child psychotherapy and expressive arts therapy, Ellen G. Levine.
This book does succeed in laying common ground beneath so many individual approaches to therapy, with its emphasis upon the imagination, spontaneous creative expression and intermodal techniques. It will, I suspect, become a standard textbook for practitioners, and it is without doubt a treasure trove for researchers, but I think it also has much to offer the general reader, for all of these issues are fundamentally human ones and could have meaning to anyone.
