Page 87 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

Next, art therapists used words that could be related to thought. This category included thoughts, cognitions and cognitive processes such as planning, organizing, analyzing and structuring. Art therapists did not refer to the content of the cognitions but mostly to a continuum of cognitive control (see Table 2).
Balance existed when allowing, experiencing and expressing emotions and cognitive control were in proportion to each other. However, many clients showed themselves to be out of balance, either because of the high levels of emotion or because of the high levels of cognitive control.
Adaptability: towards more balance
Observation of a client’s tendency towards either “thought” or “feeling” enabled the art therapists to gain a perspective on clients’ actual balance. The art therapists stressed the importance to search for cues to estimate the client’s potential ability to achieve balance. This was related to clients’ “adaptability”. Adaptability was clustered into four categories; “self- management”, “flexibility”, “openness”, and “creativity” (see Table 3).
Table 3: Adaptability. (T= Therapist, AP= Art Product)
Category
Self-man- agement
Illustration by quote and frequently used words
T5: “Specifically that balance between emotion and ratio determines the ability to choose and self-determination. If someone only acts impulsive, that person is less able to decide.”
Making choices, attention, self- determination, autonomy, identity, intention, position taking, and confidence.
Description
Self-management refers to the ability to choose. This requires the ability to distance and reflect, awareness of and paying attention to a present situation. Art therapists related self- management to self- determination, identity and autonomy.
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