Addiction

1. Addiction “What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood.” Alice Miller

2. Art therapy is “The diamond road to the unconscious” Dr. Martin Fischer personal communication Charmaine Michaels, 2007

3. Birth Death Love Hate Sex Perversion Destruction Violence Hunger Greed Jealousy Envy Ambition Dependence Themes, the repressed, the forbidden

4. Art therapy Makes the unconscious, conscious….. Makes the intolerable, tolerable Thus, helping to regulate affect and consequently, control impulse.

5. Containment Art work provides containment to the expression or communication of potentially difficult material Art work acts as an aid to the recognition and differentiation of feeling states Non verbal expression provides a sense of being able to trust feelings Art therapy provides patients the opportunity to assimilate feelings evoked from the cognitive component of the program

6. Advantages of art therapy Means of non verbal communication Can bypass verbal manipulation Focuses the individual Quality of communication is enhanced and confusion reduced

7. What is art therapy? “Art therapy involves the use of different art media through which a patient can express and work through the issues and concerns that have brought him or her into therapy. The therapist and client are in partnership in trying to understand the art process and product of the session.” Case & Dalley

8. Kohut & Winnicott (1971) “both pointed out that artistic work can be a means of dealing with pain and tension by providing a way of expressing them (rather than keeping them operating within the body-mind) and by transforming the tension into a self-regulatory mechanism, like the transitional object.” Lachman-Chapin

9. Today’s Directive Food associated with your country of origin