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

Many art therapists are deeply uncomfortable about the use made of psychoanalytic
techniques 46 . Criticism of the application does not necessarily imply the theoretical
assumptions are invalid, but that these hypotheses require proof of their relevance.
Neither Freud, Jung, nor others have ever produced sufficient evidence.
concern."; By Jung (1946, op.cit. p.12) "The patient, by bringing an activated unconscious to bear on the
doctor constellates the corrupting unconscious material in him, owing to the inductive effect which always
emanates from projection in greater or lesser degree. Doctor and patient thus find themselves in a
relationship founded on mutual unconsciousness." This image from Dalley and Case (1992, usually clear)
on how the client takes an active part in the therapy "The healthy part of the client aids the sick part,
feeding it and, in doing so, feeds itself".
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Dalley and Case (1992) op.cit., p.53-54; J. Champernowne (1971), Art and Therapy: an uneasy
partnership. op.cit.; Shaverien (1992) op.cit., develops her own theories about the role of the image as
reflective of the art therapy process. R.W. Moore (1983), Art Therapy with Substance Abusers: a review
of the literature, The Arts in Psychotherapy,
V.10:251-60 identified 20 papers with a range of orientations,
all using structured sessions dominated by art techniques rather than psychotherapeutic. Many art
therapists have adopted systemised protocols of assessment such as the DDS (B.M. Cohen, J. Hammer,
S. Singer (1988) The Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS): a systematic approach to art therapy evaluation
and research, Arts in Psychotherapy V.15(1):11-21) in direct opposition to recommended principles from
Naumberg and lending support to her unease about the relationship between Freudian analysis and art
therapy (Naumberg 1966, op.cit.); David Maclagan aired concerns that some therapeutic methods were
incompatible with pictorial imagery, that therapy is assumed to be inherent in the process of creating the
pictorial image and that the verbal discourse takes place in a different and more explicit frame of mind
(1989) op.cit. this argument, p.10. Maclagan is not arguing against psychoanalysis but is suspicious of
attempts to decode the picture. He goes on to state that "If there is an 'art' in this analytic work, then it
is all to often a devious, detective art, concerned with un-doing what the pictorial image is composed of
and weaving into it a web of its own devising"; Janet Lee Bachant and Elliot Adler (1997) Transference:
Co-constructed or brought to the interaction? J. Am. Ps ychoanalytic Assessment , V.45(4):1097-1120
detail the evolution of the transference controversy.
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