Art therapy with couples: integrating art therapy practices with sex therapy and emotionally focused therapy

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights the benefits of art therapy with couples, integrating sex therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) premises, and illustrating the use of creative and expressive tools to uniquely assess and foster relational and intimate bonds. While art therapists have long worked from systemic and creative frames, previous art therapy research explored attachment or dyadic art making, has not often explored its application within couples’ therapy treatment. From a clinical perspective, however, anecdotal accounts of art therapy interventions with couples working on intimacy and relational issues and growing development of (non-art therapy) couples’ treatment models, such as EFT and sex therapy support the potential usefulness of art therapy with couples. This paper, therefore, first introduces the theoretical premises of art therapy with couples, offers intervention examples, and then discusses considerations for art therapists preparing to work with couples or research such interventions.

Plain-language summary

Supporting couples in therapy is an important and distinguished endeavour from working with groups, individuals, and even from working with a parent–child dyad. This practice, where art-based interventions were developed and informed by current evidence-based practice, expressive sex therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT, offers specific art therapy considerations and practice descriptions intended to support the relational bond. Specifically, after offering a context and rational for the clinical approach referencing significant literature, illustrations of (1) the use of art to assess couples’ needs, (2) exploring sexual attitudes, histories, and desires, (3) assessing challenges and sensitivities, (4) understanding attachment injury and supporting reconciliation, and (5) responding to discrepancy in needs, desires or expressions are discussed as key aspects. The need for specific professional training and education for effectively working with couples, as well as implications for research and conclusions then follows.

KEYWORDS:

• Art therapy
• couples
• sex therapy
• EFT
• relational
• experiential
• evidence-based

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Einat Metzl, PHD, LMFT, ATR-BC is a licensed marital and family therapist (MFT) and a registered art therapist (ATR). She is a therapist in private practice and an associate professor at Loyola Marymount University's graduate Marital Family Therapy / Art Therapy program. Einat is committed to expanding art therapy research and bridging our current paradigms of art therapy with related discipline. Her previous work explored the interwoven and collective knowledge of wellness connected to Art therapy, sex therapy, disaster mental health, resilience, play therapy, inter generational trauma, leadership and diversity, couples' therapy, and coping with loss.