On Re-Reading Marion Milner

Abstract

Over a period of some sixty years Marion Milner published a series of books and papers that made a distinctive and valuable contribution to understanding the mental processes operative in human creativity. Milners writing on this subject constantly emphasised the wisdom of the unconscious mind and the power of symbols to transform and integrate experience. This article emerged out of the experience of rereading Marion Milners books and collected papers following her death in 1998. It examines the important but frequently unrecognised influence Milners writing has had upon art therapy and discusses some of the implications her thinking might have for art therapists working today. The development of Milners writing on the relationship between creativity and psychotherapeutic work is outlined, paying particular attention to her thinking on the nature and function of symbols, boundaries and inhibitions in the creative process.