Page 135 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

a larger number of art therapists to further investigate and theorize the concept of material interaction and its relationship with the art product and adult clients’ mental health. Further examination of the initial categories of material interaction led to 11 categories that were found to be important to observe. These categories could be divided into two main categories, ‘physicalexpression’and‘designexpression’,andonecorecategory,‘dialogue’.
‘Physical expression’ referred to the client’s physical action during the art making and consisted of the subcategories ‘movement’, ‘rhythm’, ‘tempo’, ‘grip’, ‘pressure’ and ‘physical contact’. ‘Design expression’ consisted of the subcategories ‘structure’, ‘lining’, ‘shaping’ and ‘use of color’. The category ‘dialogue’ referred to the clients’ capability to tune in and adjust to the art materials’ properties. The amount of dialogue was determined by physical, cognitive and affective characteristics of the client. ‘Dialogue’ was considered a core concept as it overarched the two main categories and interconnected all other categories. As the categories of material interaction were strongly interconnected, their combination formed a material interaction style that could be placed on a continuum from rational to affective.
With regard to mental health, art therapists found that a more rational style of material interaction often indicated a client’s tendency for control. Clients with a tendency for control were often considered as very thoughtful, precise and perfectionistic, and had difficulty recognizing, experiencing and expressing emotions or tried to avoid them. Clients who showed an affective style of material interaction could easily become overwhelmed by emotions, had difficulties in regulating emotions and structuring their impulses and might have difficulties with boundaries.
According to the participants, the clients’ style of material interaction indicated their most frequent coping strategies. As art making focuses on doing and experiencing, rather than on thinking, the observation of the material interaction style provided information about clients’ flexibility to explore and change their emotional and behavioral strategies.
As for the art product, art therapists were able to deduce clients’ material interaction based on the analysis of formal elements of clients’ art products, such as, ‘shape’, ‘line’, ‘color’, ‘rhythm’, ‘dynamic’, ‘used space’, ‘suggestion of space’ and ‘front/background’. Based on these formal elements, art therapists could describe clients’ mental health in terms of their capability to tune in and adjust to the art materials’ properties and their rational and affective coping strategies.
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