Editorial

The arts therapist's artwork plays, in different ways, a major role in the first two articles in this issue. Susan Carr's ‘Revisioning Self Identity’ continues the theme of March's special issue on art therapy and neuroscience. Carr presents an analysis of some innovative work involving the therapist making portraits of the client.

Ali Coles' article examines her artwork outside the clinical setting. ‘Being Time’ is a reflection on the experience of time, especially as it relates to art therapy, and how the therapist's understanding of time affects their ability to be present for the patient. Coles makes the point that a secure therapeutic relationship is required in order for the patient to experience the ‘now’. The making of artwork was an intrinsic part of the author's methodology in researching the experience of time and she shows how art processes and products gave new insights into how time could be experienced, including the impact of the physical qualities of art media.

As art therapy research develops, it has become clear that manuals are required if we are to have any certainty about what we are measuring. This necessity brings with it an anxiety about practice being reduced to the therapeutic equivalent of painting by numbers. Elizabeth Taylor Buck's article, ‘Creative Manuals’, asks whether manuals can be created that avoid such depletion of practice. The author gives an account of the debate around manualisation in psychotherapy since it emerged from behavioural therapies in the 1960s. She goes on to examine some models of manualisation that support rather than suppress creativity.

In the context of the development of art therapy research and the continued pressure of cuts in public services, the MATISSE randomised controlled trial continues to provide food for thought and for debate. It is worth noting Huet and Holttum's recent article as an important contribution to this. We are publishing a letter from the trial team in response to Chris Wood's critique of the trial in her article ‘In the Wake of the Matisse RCT: what about art therapy and psychosis’ (Wood, 2013) followed by her response to the letter.

This issue includes a call for submissions to the New Practitioners Essay Prize (formerly known as the Student Essay Prize). I would encourage all students and recent graduates to consider submitting and I hope that we will see the winning essay published next year.

Tim Wright

Editor