Toward a common language among the creative art therapies

Author(s): Brandt, Gudrun, Wohler, Dagmar

Journal/Book: Arts in Psychotherapy. 1990; 17: 189-195.

Abstract: Discusses the interaction of aesthetic and scientific orientation in a case study of a 36-yr-old patient with nervous depression. Through daily art therapy and weekly music therapy, the S was able to express her disorientation, turbulence, and lack of connectedness. As therapy progressed, the S's art showed a center of focus, and her random uncontrolled music was replaced by structured and directed improvisations. Common elements in the language of art and music express loss of coherence and initiative, relationships, and dialog. Creative arts therapy is not psychological but artistic, and the terms used have their own legitimacy. Learning a repertoire of improvisational possibilities promotes form and order in the healing process.

Note: art & music therapy; 36 yr old female with nervous depression; case report

Keyword(s): Music therapy; art therapy; major depression; case report; adulthood

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