Page 90 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

88 | Chapter 4
Table 4: Art therapists’ observation of the art products and mental health
Art product, instruction and preliminary diagnosis by psychiatrist or psychologist
Art product
Mental health according to the art therapists in this study
Formulated focus and du- ration of treat- ment
Art product 1
Instruction: Painting free choice with acrylic paint; third session
Client 1: Female, age 48, panic disorder, eating disor- der (bulimia), depressive dis- order, personality disorder
All therapists men- tion and agree
on the clear high structure; contour and repetition are dominant present; the lines are placed straight to each other and the colors are, almost sym- metrical, repeated. Movement and dy- namic are dominate absent. The pres- ence of color satura- tion and absence of mixture of color en- hance contour and weaken move ment and dynamic
All thera- pists men- tion and agree on the very limited variation; there is no differentia- tion.
Therapists find this client to
be out of bal- ance; very much thought; cogni- tive control and limited/ no feel- ing; restriction of allowing and expressing emo- tions.
This client is found to be the least adaptive (not open to ex- periment, not flexible because of the lack of vari- ation and differ- entiation and not creative because of the need for predictability, yet some therapists mention that they find the art prod- uct powerful; a sort of statement related to self-de- termination). This client is
Therapists estimate that this client may benefit from affective ex- periences that allow access
to and express feelings instead of controlling or avoiding them. How- ever, they are cautious about how much the client needs the control of emotion as a defense.
Combination of formal elements -> structure
Variation
(Im)balance
Adaptability
table continues