Using Art Media in Psychotherapy

Reviews / Votes

"Using Art Media in Psychotherapy rightly argues against programmed, technique-laden recipes for using art materials and their corresponding processes. Avoiding the traps of a mechanized psychotherapy, Michelle Dean elegantly embraces her depth psychology roots of the imaginal realm, where images manifest through art media in order to exert their life force and lead the artist onward. Historically rich, sensitively written, and clinically savvy, this is a must-read book."

Michael A. Franklin, PhD, ATR-BC, professor and coordinator of the graduate art therapy program and the Naropa Community Art Studio at Naropa University

"This historically and culturally grounded exploration of art media in psychotherapy is informed by a wealth of experience. The origin of each art process is traced and awareness of its therapeutic value is threaded into a rich tapestry of theory and practice. Generously illustrated, this is an original and lively resource that will be welcomed by experienced practitioners and students alike."

Joy Schaverien, PhD, Jungian psychoanalyst and author of The Revealing Image

"Neither a recipe book on how to use art materials in therapy nor an esoteric treatise, Michelle Dean's text is a fine marriage between theory and practice. Interspersed with personal and professional anecdotes, mythological metaphors and deep theoretical and clinical examinations, it provides a rich examination of how and why a vast array of media and directives are used for clients from a singular perspective. It is deliciously readable and clinically enlightening for those inside-and outside-the field."

David Gussak, PhD, ATR-BC, professor and chair of the department of art education at Florida State University

"With this book, Michelle Dean has added her voice to an ever-growing chorus of art therapists, counselors, and psychotherapists who are committed to including art making in the complex process of psychotherapy. Dean avoids the temptation to provide easy, prescriptive tasks that inevitably lead to superficial incorporation, opting instead for a much deeper and richer discussion of the art process in psychotherapy that is quite literally beyond the bounds of linear discursive language."

Bruce L. Moon, PhD, ATR-BC, HLM, LPC, professor of art therapy at Mount Mary University

"Using Art Media in Psychotherapy offers us the depth of meaning that comes through the lens of historical example, and welcomes back the voice of soul in art psychotherapy. I am delighted to use this both with students and on my own; it is a text that infuses art therapy intervention with the richness offered by engagement with mystery."

Abbe Miller, MS, ATR-BC, LPC, director of the graduate art therapy program and associate professor in the department of psychology at Albertus Magnus College

"Michelle Dean delivers invigorating, contemporary scholarship with Using Art Media in Psychotherapy. She masterfully fuses psychotherapeutic theory to reflective practices within sacred myth and symbol. The clinical and media examples describe an epic of evolution for the nuanced use of crafted materials. This book regenerates lacuna between art and psychotherapy, between activated imagination and meaningful care of the soul. Will art therapists enact venturesome journeys from positivistic worlds to the phenomenological shores of 'integrating things anew'?"

Natalie Rae Carlton, PhD, art therapy educator

"This thoughtful addition to the literature of art therapy elucidates the roots of visual imagery via a cultural framework that includes aesthetics, mythology, iconography, religion, and philosophy within an analytic approach. Michelle Dean's refreshing contribution, at times elegantly crafted, will be useful not only for the beginning clinician but will enliven the thinking of the professional. Detailed and easy-to-follow descriptions of art materials and art interventions are generously offered."

Elizabeth Stone Matho, MA, ATR-BC, LP, LCAT, psychoanalyst, art therapist in private practice, and faculty at the Ecole de Psychologues Praticiens in Lyon, France

"This is an extremely well written and comprehensive text that describes the use of media and methods of application while elucidating the value of imagery as an active and integral component of psychotherapy. Michelle Dean beautifully synthesizes historical artistic expression with philosophy, psychology, myth, culture, and the processes of creativity while maintaining the integrity of the therapeutic relationship in the description of sound clinical interventions."

Juliet King, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, director of the graduate art therapy program at Herron School of Art and Design

"Michelle Dean's Using Art Media in Psychotherapy: Bringing the Power of Creativity to Practice is a unique book that provides an introduction to the use of art in therapy... She grounds the chapters with rich historical and contextual information as well as applications to specific clinical cases. Students and clinicians will find her ideas very useful in enhancing work with clients... Using Art Media in Psychotherapy is an impressive book that will provide students and clinicans with a complex and rich understanding of the therapeutic effects of various art media, art history, and art therapy."

Meera Rastogi, associate professor of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, PsycCritiques