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

advanced from all types of papers but mostly from those with a psychotherapeutically
based theory and least from those with social or developmental base.
The self healing explanation, which is obfuscated by the terminology in which it
is swaddled, seems to derive from Jungian theory of contacting the unconscious, but sees
the therapist as a conductor for a force or power of healing. This is not an explanation
but a speculative model. Authors who offered these explanations generally gave advice,
came from a psychotherapeutic or an environmental base and claimed all benefits equally.
Explanations other than signpost or healing were marginal and equally thinly
distributed. All explanations were independent of any variable examined here. The
papers which described an experience or a programme dealt mainly with group interaction
and transfer of skill, looking at formal measures.
Conclusion
This analysis has clarified the terms and general area of interest, but has not provided an
explanation of the function of art in psychotherapy, nor any clearer idea of the area of
operation expected for different theories. The primary benefits to patients were
expression of feelings, communication and symptom relief. It is assumed that therapists
have access to a means of decoding personal associative material, but consistent
explanations were not provided on how this would be accomplished and practically based
reports dealt with the communication value of art. This is not unexpected in such general
material, but is irrelevant to the main issue here of exactly what is decoded by the
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