Page 41 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

Clients that showed high levels of rationalization were often insecure about themselves, needed a sense of control, were anxious and/ or were perfectionist.
In addition to rationalizing as a characteristic feature of a client’s material interaction, art therapists also mentioned that most of the clients on whom they reflected showed rationalization at the start of the art therapy assessment. The art therapists explained this by the fact that art therapy was unfamiliar for most clients.
Therapist 1: “That idea, that picture functioned as something to hold on to outside of himself. Considering that he worked with very fluid material (water ink), he let it flow in the direction he wanted, which is quite skillful. And then he repeatedly accentuated the contours of the shapes. He didn’t allow himself to play and experiment with the material ”.
Therapist 3:”She was so caught up with the final result, her idea in her head, that during the art making, she didn’t search for other ways or possi- bilities. It was like” this is the idea, this is what I’m doing and how I’m doing it and that’s it””.
Therapist 5: “Clients with a high level of need for direction and control [....], that becomes visible in their art making and their preference for familiar materials which are easy to control and structure such as graphic materi- als like pencils and crayons.”
Flexibility
Art therapy is often about experiencing and using art materials to enhance the process of change, and all art therapists thought it was important to observe how rigid or flexible a client was to new experiences, the possibilities of art materials and the release of old patterns. According to the art therapists, flexibility is the client’s capability and openness to try new materials or to use them in different ways by interacting with the art materials differently than the client’s initial interaction. Rigidness in material interaction expressed itself by a lack of variation in the use of different art materials with different properties. Most clients in this study on whom therapists reflected tended to rationalize. However, art therapists mentioned that this was not always the case; some clients tended to be overwhelmed by the art materials, and always used them in the same manner.
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