Short-term art therapy on the acute psychiatric ward: The open session as a psychodynamic development of the studio-based approach

Abstract

Many art therapists struggle to provide professionally valid interventions in the difficult environment of the acute psychiatric wards and to develop their own techniques and styles. Some decide to offer groups according to the traditional studio-based approach described by Case & Dalley (1992:196-199). Landgarten (1981: 277-299) suggests and gives some clinical illustrations of two types of theme-directed group approach, for moderately dysfunctional (who have sufficient ego strength to engage themselves in group process) and for severely dysfunctional group members (with grossly impaired interactional skills). A more interactive model, with a selected group of patients who can focus on the here-and-now and who can learn from group interaction according to Yaloms (1983) model in verbal psychotherapy is described by Waller (1993: 73-78).

In this paper I will share my experience of providing Art Therapy on an acute psychiatric admission ward, and I will focus on one type of intervention, which might be called the open session, to distinguish it from the studio-based open group. The character of these sessions developed slowly during years of clinical experience and may be seen as a personal response to the changes that were occurring on in the NHS during the closure of the large psychiatric hospitals (where the large art rooms had always been open to in-patients from the wards) and to my feeling of frustration at not being able to provide on the ward any of the groups mentioned above. The experience of working on acute wards is often frustrating for an art therapist and the work not well recognized by other members of staff (Molloy 1984). This responseoften affects the art therapists self-confidence and may lead to the belief that the work done is not an important professional topic. Now, looking back at my work, I wish to reflect on what has actually happened, and I hope my reflections may be helpful or stimulating for other art therapists.