Therapist art making as a means of helping service users with anxiety problems

ABSTRACT Background Therapist art making in individual sessions with adult service users has received little attention in the art therapy literature. Similarly, art therapy’s efficacy with anxiety problems has not been established. Context NHS Criminal Justice Community Mental Health Team, long term weekly individual art therapy. Outcomes Service User reported marked reduction in anxiety, CJCMHT observed significant reduction in anxiety and increased social functioning leading to discharge from forensic services. Conclusions Therapist art making helped reduce anxiety by increasing trust. The ambiguity of the artwork challenged black and white ways of relating to self and others. Therapist artmaking functioned as a non-verbal form of psychoeducation. Three styles of therapist art making can be described, all of which are characterised by improvisation: Alongside the Service User; Jointly with the Service User; Under the gaze of the Service User. Implications for research Art making can be helpful in 1:1 therapy with adult service users because it magnifies the art therapist’s ostensive (i.e. non-verbal) communications and increases trust. Making art alongside service users provides a unique way to engage with complex psychological and interpersonal material. It is the ambiguity of therapist artwork that seems particularly helpful, and it should be considered as a promising way to address black and white thinking in common mental health problems like anxiety and depression. Plain-language summary This paper describes the benefits of therapist art making in individual sessions with an adult user of mental health services. Lived Experience feedback is used to show how therapist art making helped reduce severe anxiety and improve social functioning. The paper describes the clinical reasoning for three art-based interventions; how they built and maintained trust, meaning and hope for both therapist and Lived Experience Author. The paper suggests that the ambiguity of therapist artwork can be thought about in terms of the presenting problem, particularly to reframe black and white ways of relating to self and others.