An art therapy directive is a suggested task or prompt given by an art therapist to a client to guide their creative process during a therapy session.
Understanding Art Therapy Directives
In the context of art therapy, a directive serves as a starting point or structure for a client's artistic exploration. Instead of simply saying "make art," the therapist provides a specific instruction or theme. This can range from something broad like "create a picture of your feelings" to more specific tasks like "draw a bridge between two different parts of yourself."
According to information from May 7, 2020, offering art therapy directives provides a client with a mode of expression within the therapy space. These directives facilitate ways for thoughts and feelings to be represented without just using words. Once the artwork is created, it then becomes a tool that can be interacted with through psychotherapeutic techniques. This interaction allows the client to safely process personal associations related to the artwork they made.
Directives are designed to help clients:
- Begin the creative process when they might feel stuck.
- Focus on specific themes or emotions.
- Explore challenging experiences in a non-verbal way.
- Provide structure within the therapeutic setting.
Why Use Directives?
Using directives is a core component of many art therapy approaches. They are not meant to be rigid rules but rather invitations to explore. By providing a structured task, the therapist helps the client access and process emotions, memories, and thoughts that might be difficult to articulate verbally. The resulting artwork acts as a visual language, a tangible representation of the client's internal world, which can then be discussed and processed in a therapeutic dialogue.
Examples of Art Therapy Directives
Directives vary greatly depending on the client's needs, therapeutic goals, and the therapist's approach. Here are a few illustrative examples:
- Emotional Exploration: "Create a collage representing how you feel today."
- Self-Reflection: "Draw your life path as a journey."
- Relationship Dynamics: "Sculpt how you feel connected to or separate from others."
- Problem Solving: "Draw the problem as a monster and draw a tool to help you fight it."
These directives encourage the client to translate abstract internal experiences into concrete visual forms, opening up new avenues for understanding and therapeutic processing.
The Process: From Directive to Processing
The art therapy process involving a directive typically follows these steps:
- Directive is Given: The therapist presents the prompt or task.
- Art Creation: The client engages in the creative process based on the directive.
- Processing: The therapist and client explore the artwork together. This involves discussing colors, shapes, symbols, feelings that arose during creation, and the personal meaning the client associates with the piece. This aligns with the reference stating the artwork is interacted with through psychotherapeutic techniques to safely process personal associations.
Directives are flexible and can be adapted or even ignored by the client, depending on the therapeutic relationship and the client's needs at that moment. The emphasis is always on the client's experience and the therapeutic insights gained from the process and the artwork itself.
