The psychopathology of everyday art: a quantitative Study - World ...

concludes on the effectiveness of the instrument with some thoughts on how the
approach exemplified by the DAPA extends previous practice in this field.
Introduction
The Argument for Another Art Assessment
It has long been remarked upon that people with mental illness can sometimes produce
quite surprisingly communicative and highly organised art, the explanation of which has
had a number of theoretical approaches 1 . The general task has been to describe and
explain the phenomena of psychotic art in relation to the behaviour and experience of
mental illness. This issue has been discussed within many disciplines, without producing
final solutions, but the psychological aspects have been, to some extent detached and
investigated on an empirical level. The subject is too complex to be handled as a whole
and it has been divided into many different problems for research. MacGregor (1989) and
Waller (1991) have made recent extensive reviews of the history of ideas in the field of
psychiatric art 2 . These two sources alone provide a comprehensive historical
background, but Winner 3 adds a useful analytical framework and the diversity of
1
For summaries see Tessa Dalley and Caroline Case (1992), Handbook of Art Therapy , London:
Routledge, probably gives the most readable account of the diversity of theoretical approaches; T. Dalley
and A. Gilroy, eds. (1989), Pictures at an Exhibition , London: Routledge, explores the range of
psychoanalytic explanations thought to be related to psychopathology in art; Marion Liebmann (1990),
Art in Practice , London: Tavistock, describes the variety of art therapy practised with different client
groups in one area; and V. Lusebrink (1990), Imagery and Visual Expression in Therapy , New York:
Plenum, identifies most of the different practical approaches to art therapy.
2
Diane Waller's (1991) Ph.D. based Becoming a Profession: the history of art therapy 1940-1982 , London:
Routledge, gives a useful and informative in-depth study of the roots of current theoretical practice. John
Monroe MacGregor (1989), The Discovery of the Art of the Insane , New Jersey and Oxford: Princetown
University Press, also developed from his Ph.D. research, provides a detailed interdisciplinary history of
the earlier empirical and case studies, personalities and work of insane artists.
3
Ellen Winner (1982) Invented Worl ds: the psychology of the arts , Cambridge, Mass: Harvard U.P.
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