Containing the uncontainable: Responsive art making in art therapy as a method to facilitate mentalization

Abstract

Responsive art making, using arts media to respond to the affect within the therapeutic context, is emerging as an important method in the clinical repertoire of art therapists working within health care settings in the UK. This article develops a rationale for the importance of responsive art making as an interactive mentalizing process that establishes relational change through the interactive art-making process. A clinical vignette helps to illustrate how the art response as a method of communication can be used when words have been unavailable, particularly in conditions of high affect arousal and avoidant attachment patterns. The article concludes that methods of responsive art making require further research and examination with a mental health population.

Keywords:

• Mentalizing
• responsive art making
• art therapy
• mirroring
• attunement
• containment

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank ICAPT training leads, Holly Dwyer and Diane Eagles for their feedback on the draft of this paper and the University of Hertfordshire staff including Andrew Marshall-Tierney and Phillippa Brown for providing experiential ‘responsive art’ workshops for CNWL staff.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dominik Havsteen-Franklin

Biographical details

Dominik Havsteen-Franklin is an art therapist and supervisor and works for the NHS as a Consultant Arts Psychotherapist and is currently Interim Head of Profession. He has a Fine Art background and an MSc in the Psychodynamics of Human Development and is responsible for developing and implementing clinical arts therapies training for internal arts psychotherapists and organising NHS-led training to a wide range of health organisations. He is also leading the research arm of an NHS arts psychotherapies training initiative at ICAPT, focusing on severe mental health disorders and psychological therapies. He is completing his PhD in the context of metaphor occurrence in art psychotherapy at Essex University.

Email: [email protected]

Jorge Camarena Altamirano

Jorge Camarena Altamirano is an artist and art psychotherapist with more than seven years’ work experience in teaching art and art social project management to people with special needs (including children), and those with challenging behaviour. In his current position in the NHS as a clinician, Jorge works with individuals and groups of adults with severe mental health issues within forensic and PICU wards, rehabilitation units and in the community. In addition to this, Jorge has undergone Mentalization ased treatment training, as well as dynamic interpersonal therapy and further psychotherapy training. He has extensive experience in managerial and clinical supervision of arts psychotherapists and arts therapies trainees. Recently Jorge has started teaching different modules towards the development of effective approaches for arts psychotherapies practice in mental health at the International Centre for Arts Psychotherapies (ICAPT). He is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. Jorge is currently undertaking further research in mentalization-based arts psychotherapies to help build upon evidence-based art therapy practice with personality disorders.

Email: [email protected]