Reimagining art therapy for the digitally-mediated world: a Hexagonal Relationship

ABSTRACT

Art Therapists have long been aware of the intersubjective complexities that are evoked in art therapy in relation to images, art-making and their attendant processes. These have often been understood with reference to the psychodynamic concepts of transference and countertransference. In this paper we ask, what happens to these processes when art therapy moves online and becomes digitally-mediated? How do the dynamics of ‘the Virtual’ affect the image and art-making, and the therapeutic relationship? Drawing on Schaverien and Jung’s ideas about transference and countertransference, we propose a new model or ‘map’ of Art Therapy which helps to think about these questions, which we call a ‘Hexagonal Relationship’. To date, published literature has tended to foreground the logistics and practicalities of moving art therapy online, with consideration of complex interpersonal dynamics occupying less of a central space in emerging narratives about digitally-mediated art therapy. We suggest that applying our model to practice could potentially support art therapists to access deeper, less conscious and perhaps more symbolic levels of material in online work, in service of the client’s process. We invite art therapists and clients to consider our model with reference to their own experiences of digitally-mediated art therapy, and to test out our questions and hypotheses in their own contexts.

Plain-language summary

Art Therapists work with the idea that the images made in art therapy are affected by the relationship between the person making the image (often known as ‘the client’), the art therapist, and the environment in which the art therapy session takes place. Making and reflecting on images is a way of understanding and working with whatever is going on for the client, both in their ‘external’ life and also in their ‘internal world’ (for example, their thoughts, feelings, imaginings and beliefs). A lot of art therapy now happens online, particularly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are all part of the digital world in terms of how we communicate and relate with others. We think it is helpful to consider how art therapy (including the therapeutic relationship, art-making processes and the images made) might be affected by the digital environment and so we have written this paper to explore these ideas. We show readers a diagram of what we call the ‘Hexagonal Relationship’ to help explain what we mean. We think this will help us to understand more of what happens in art therapy in the digital world, making this kind of therapeutic help more effective and meaningful for clients and their art therapists. We hope that clients and art therapists will test out these ideas for themselves and come into a conversation with us (perhaps through papers like this one, published in art therapy journals) about how well our ideas stand up to actual experience.

Video Abstract

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© 2022 British Association of Art Therapists

KEYWORDS:

• digitally-mediated art therapy
• online art therapy
• transference
• countertransference
• projection
• alchemy
• Onlife

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mike Wilson for introducing Bridget to Jung’s ‘Gate’ diagram and to his concept of the ‘felt sense encounter’; to Laurence Diver for helpful conversations with Sarah about technology and avatars; and to Catriona MacInnes, Michele Gunn and Natasha Dimaki for useful feedback on our model.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Samuels et al.’s diagram (1986) is itself an adaptation of Jung’s diagram exploring transference through the symbolism of alchemy (1986, p. 59).

2 Read from left to right, the position of the Art Therapist and Client in our model might seem to imply a hierarchy of power, but that is not our intention. In mapping the hexagonal relationship, we have attempted to preserve deep archetypal structures, reflected in ‘positionality’ (left/right), that are acknowledged in Jung’s writing about alchemical images. A full discussion is beyond the scope of this paper; readers can refer to Jung’s (1998) original exploration for further information.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Haywood

Sarah Haywood trained at Queen Margaret University, East Lothian, where she is now a Lecturer on the MSc Art Psychotherapy programme. As a clinician she has worked mainly with children and young people in schools, through Place2Be and Lanarkshire Youth Counselling Service. More recently, she joined the CrossReach Perinatal Service, offering therapeutic support for new parents. Although Sarah no longer practices clinically in schools, she continues to work as Trainer for Place2Be, facilitating mental health training and support for education professionals as well as for Place2Be staff and volunteers.

Bridget Grant

Bridget Grant is an HCPC registered Art Psychotherapist and listed with the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) as a Private Practitioner and Clinical Supervisor. Since qualifying in 1997, Bridget has gained extensive experience in art psychotherapy working with a broad range of people in different settings both in-person and online. Alongside individual work and clinical supervision, she is an experienced group and workshop facilitator. She has contributed to the MSc Art Psychotherapy programme at Queen Margaret University first as a Visiting Lecturer, and now as a Lecturer (since May 2022). She is particularly interested in how the image, metaphor, symbol, and imagination combine with somatic and neurobiological processes to help cultivate the resources needed to create positive change.