Softer: Looking for oxytocin in art therapy

Abstract

Mentalising-based therapy approaches have advanced understanding of the role of the attachment system as a mechanism of change in verbal therapy. This paper outlines a neurobiological basis of attachment and identifies a comparative deficit in mentalising theory concerning the same in group art therapy. This highlights how problems of practice description for group art therapy might impact negatively on the potential for a future practice-congruent neurobiological sampling strategy. The paper details an exploratory experiment art therapists conducted on themselves using observational research methodology as a way of starting to address this deficit. Moments of trust were identified in art therapy as points where oxytocin may be activated. The interpersonal actions involving art-objects that facilitated those moments were then analysed as recorded on video. Mentalising through art-objects in a group appeared to involve a complex division of labour between participants but resulted in identified moments of therapeutic action. It is proposed that the description of this might form the basis for future neurobiological sampling and theorisation.

Keywords:

• Art therapy
• mentalisation
• attachment system
• observational research
• groupwork

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Neil Springham

Biographical details

Neil Springham is a consultant art therapist at Oxleas NHS foundation Trust and has practiced in adult mental health, addictions and now specialises in personality disorder treatment. He was a course leader at the Unit of Psychotherapeutic Studies, Goldsmiths College, co-founded the UK Art Therapy Practice Research Network and was twice elected chair of British Association of Art Therapists. He founded ResearchNet as a network of linked service user and provider collaborative groups which use co-produced research to create change within mental health services. He has published and lectured internationally on issues in art therapy and co-production research. Email: [email protected]

David Thorne

David Thorne qualified as an Art Therapist in 1997 from the University of Hertfordshire. He has worked with people with learning disabilities, people in acute states of mental illness, people with dementia, and currently works in a specialised personality disorder service. He has lectured on mentalisation, potential space, and depression. His paper ‘Images on the void’ was publish in the International Journal of Art Therapy June 2011. He is involved in the Personality Disorder Special Interest Group. Email: [email protected]

Julie Brooker

Julie Brooker (BA, PG Dip AT, PG Dip Advanced AT, PGDip Personality Disorder) studied Fine Art at Bristol and Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths College, University of London, qualifying in 1999. Julie has practised in a range of settings and currently works in adult mental health at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, specialising in personality disorder. She is a long-term member of the Art Therapy Practice Research Network (ATPRN). For the last five years she has been joint lead in the research on the use of AIRs and the Reflect Interview. Julie maintains her own art practice working with discarded and found objects and has exhibited widely in both solo and group shows across the UK. Julie has transferred this interest into her clinical practice considering the therapeutic use of found objects in art therapy, and has published internationally. Email: [email protected]