The key to being in the right mind

Abstract

This paper is about the structure and value of art therapy within a drug rehabilitation therapeutic community. It looks at the group culture and how, within this client group, rigid structures were created and resolved. A case study of a ‘key’ session offers a ‘key’ image and looks at group dynamics, exploring how—by the group owning feelings belonging to the group as a whole—the need to use a scapegoat was avoided. The paper discusses some of my own findings looking at this group from a group analytic perspective and from interpretations in neuroscience.

Keywords:

• Drug abuse
• therapeutic community
• group
• art therapy
• image
• neuroscience