The evolution of theory, the theory of evolution: Towards new rationales for art therapy

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to locate art psychotherapy theory in the context of evolutionary psychology. Art psychotherapists have often touched upon an argument for art making, and healing through art making, as having deep roots in the human past, but have seldom expanded this into specific constructs relevant to everyday practice. Recent work in related fields such as archaeology, anthropology and evolutionary psychology is yielding specific formulations that enable this development. The paper looks both at earlier and current thinking about art making as an adaptive process, in both the evolutionary and personal senses. Drawing particularly on the work of Ellen Dissanayake and Steven Mithen, it relates their concepts of ‘making special’ and ‘cognitive fluidity’ to an endeavour to outline a rationale for art psychotherapy rooted in human ‘natural history’.

Keywords:

• Evolutionary psychology
• art therapy
• cognitive fluidity
• adaptation
• metaphor
• making special