Expressive Arts Dimensions
When choosing an arts-based activity in an expressive arts therapy session, how do I know what to choose? It's a creative process that resists precise definition, but there are four dimensions, or axes, that are helpful to think about when choosing an arts intervention.
I discuss these dimensions in my examination of all the arts modalities. Each of these dimensions is a continuum, not an either-or choice.
Aesthetic distance
People need to be ready to consciously accept some unconscious material. Sometimes it's just too painful or difficult to talk directly about oneself. But, of course, everything that happens in therapy is about the client. The arts allow the client to start off with a lot of aesthetic distance -- it's just a drawing, this is a song I like, it's all safely out there, and not really about me. As the client feels safer, we close the aesthetic distance, and the work becomes more deliberately personal -- this drawing shows how I feel about my mom, that song says perfectly what I wish I could say to my girlfriend.
Embodiment
Modern life is all in our heads. To move beyond this world-view (it's no coincidence we call it a "mind-set"), we must learn to engage the body. But for many people, being in our bodies is scary and unfamiliar. Some arts, such as dance and drama, are intensely embodied. Some, such as poetry and drawing, can have very little embodiment.
Metaphoric or Literal
The arts can be metaphoric or literal. I can draw a picture of a dragon burning down a town, or a picture of my alcoholic father beating me. They might both be pictures of the same thing, only one is metaphoric and one is literal. It's not an either-or dichotomy, though. There are layers of literalism -- maybe my relationship with my girlfriend is, on some level, working out leftover issues about my mother. So it's possible for something to be both literal and metaphorical. In fact, as a therapist, I hold everything metaphorically (to some degree).
Holding or Probing
One of my CIIS professors, Mark Fromm, taught me that we all have two basic -- and sometimes competing -- needs: the need for safety, and the need for growth. Safety always comes first, and we can only grow as much as we feel is safe. So, in therapy, I assess how much holding is needed to create and enhance safety, and how much probing the client needs and can tolerate. The beauty of the arts is that they can be holding and probing at the same time.
