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

work 91 . This suggestion has merit and this thesis uses impressionistic reports and case
studies to generate comparative information as a complement to that of statistical studies,
in order to provide a balanced view of the overall approach to the investigation of the art
product in mental illness.
Chapter 2 details the last 20 years of published research studies into two
dimensional art by psychiatric patients. There are four reasons why this 20 year period
is considered:
1. Reviews and tables of pathological characteristics in the art of mental disorder from
the more recent literature are neither systematic nor complete.
2. The literature on diagnosis in art contains similar clinical observations about diagnostic
groups. These generalisations are not supported by statistical or scientific research. The
relatively recent refinement of more reliable diagnostic categories, clinical terminology and
standards of reporting now permits a re-examination of some basic questions about
psychiatric symptoms in art.
3. Earlier research was based on clinical observation from many disciplines, later research
aimed to develop theory and used a variety of illustrative background.
4. The earlier literature has been adequately summarised before.
91 A. Gilroy (1992) Research in Art Therapy, op.cit. p.238, "The experimentally based case study ... leads
to data which is easily comparable with other case-studies and types of therapeutic intervention".
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