Some further thoughts on the subject of ‘internal cohabitation’ and the genesis of an ‘other’: A response to Tim Wright's paper ‘Art therapy and the concept of internal cohabitation’

Abstract

This paper is a response to Tim Wright's article ‘Art Therapy and the Concept of Internal-Cohabitation’ (Inscape, Volume 9, No.1 2004, pp. 26–37). Wright presented his work using a potentially universally applicable model of the mind(s). I begin to look at the complexity of his argument and open up some of the debates around the genesis of an ‘other’ mind. For example, is it an aspect of the self or not? If there is an ongoing, internal view different to the one identified as a relational self, how is it formed? And can this ‘other’ presence offer a benign hand in creativity? Whilst I do not endeavour to provide answers to these questions I support the notion that part of the art therapy work needs to involve an exploration of the validity of some analytic assumptions about ‘self’ and ‘other’ if there is to be a consistent, non-contradictory approach.

Keywords:

• Self
• other
• internal cohabitation
• analytic art psychotherapy