Susan Hogan — Feminist Approaches to Art Therapy

Psychology Press, 1997, Paperback, 279, The practice of art therapy has been slow to embrace the critical and theoretical viewpoints, including feminism, which have made a huge impact in other areas of the humanities and social sciences in recent years. Art therapists are excellently placed, however, to respond to the growing awareness that language and images have a role to play in creating and maintaining gender inequality and the pressures that can lead to mental ill-health among women.In Feminist Approaches to Art Therapy, leading international practitioners in this field explore the ways in which gender issues can be addressed in art therapy and suggest that by being sensitive to the socio-cultural dimensions of women's lives therapists can become more receptive to the needs of their female clients.Within their own specific areas of expertise the contributors challenge the over-reliance on universally applied psychological theory, and use case studies to illustrate how issues of class, race, age and gender can introduce a social element into what is normally regarded as a purely personal, cathartic process. Chapters also discuss empowerment, sexuality, pregnancy and childbirth, providinga comprehensive survey of women's issues within art therapy which will prompt a reevaluation of current training and practice in this field., Goed