Imagery and Visual Expression in Therapy

287 Pages·1990·11.26 MB·English

by  Vija Bergs Lusebrink (auth.)

Imagery and
Visual Expression
in Therapy
EMOTIONS, PERSONALITY, AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
Series Editors:
Carroll E. Izard, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
and
Jerome L. Singer, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Recent volumes in the Series
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THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN: Physiology, Neuroanatomy,
Psychology, and Emotion
P. V. Simonov
EMOTIONS IN PERSONALITY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Edited by Carroll E. Izard
FREUD AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY
Volume I: The Emotional Basis of Mental Illness
Volume 2: The Emotional Basis of Human Behavior
Helen Block Lewis
GUIDED AFFECTIVE IMAGERY WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Hanscarl Leuner, Gunther Horn, and Edda Klessmann
IMAGERY AND VISUAL EXPRESSION IN THERAPY
Vija Bergs Lusebrink
LANGUAGE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: Strategies of Discovery
Edited by Robert L. Russell
THE PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF EMOTIONS
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SAMPLING NORMAL AND SCHIZOPHRENIC INNER EXPERIENCE
Russell T. Hurlburt
SHYNESS: Perspectives on Research and Treatment
Edited by Warren H. Jones, Jonathan M. Cheek, and Stephen R. Briggs
THE TRANSFORMED SELF: The Psychology of Religious Conversion
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A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery
of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual ship.
ment. For further information please contact the publisher.
Imagery and
Visual Expression
in Therapy
Vija Bergs Lusebrink
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Plenum Press • New York and London
LIbrary of Congress Cataloglng-In-Publlcatlon Data
Lusebrink, ViJa Bergs.
Imagery and visual expression in therapy I Vlja Bergs Lusebrink.
p. cm. -- (Emotions, personality, and psychotherapy)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Imagery (Psychology)--Therapeutic use. 2. Psychotherapy.
I. Title. II. Series.
[ONLM: 1. Art Therapy. 2. Imagination. 3. Psychotherapy.
4. Visual Perception. WM 420 L9681l
RC489.F35L87 1990
616.89'14--dc20
ONLM/OLC
for Library of Congress 90-6901
CIP
10987654
ISBN 978-1-4757-0446-4 ISBN 978-1-4757-0444-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-0444-0
© 1990 Plenum Press. New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1990
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street. New York. N.Y. 10013
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system. or transmitted
in any form or by any means. electronic. mechanical. photocopying. microfilming.
recording. or otherwise. without written permission from the Publisher
To Ingrid, Karen, and Anita
Preface
Images as means of expression have fascinated and spoken to me for a
long time. Yet it has been a far-reaching and circuitous journey to syn
thesize imagery and visual expression in the present form. Early in my
life my interest in images expressed itself in art, first as a young child
drawing, then responding to works of art and enjoying the life conveyed
through colors, forms, and lines that created recognizable images and
suggested different moods. The centering, transformative, and spir
itual aspects of art emerged as I sought out art in times of personal
turmoil. I returned to the expressive aspects of art through my training
as a painter. Later I discovered in my own art, as well as in others'
expressions, as a teacher and an art therapist, that many times we ex
press more through visual means than we are consciously aware of
doing.
The writings of art therapy pioneers Naumburg (1950, 1953, 1966)
and Ulman (1961, 1965) and Rhyne's (1973) gestalt art therapy provided
a framework for my own observations. Workshops and literature on
guided imagery opened another door to the inner experience through
images. The discovery of Jung's concept of archetypes helped me to
integrate images into a mind/body frame bridging from the biological
roots of the archetypal images to the spiritual aspects of our existence.
The validity of my beliefs in imagery and its expression through visual
means was reinforced and elaborated upon by additional exposure to
the work and ideas of the early supporters of the use of visual expres
sion of symbolism and symbolic realignment (Perry, 1953, 1962), and
imagery in therapy (Horowitz, 1970; Singer, 1974), as well as by my own
clients and my observations of their visual expressions. During my doc
toral studies I pursued my interest in the psychophysiological compo
nents of imagery. I was fortunate to be able to do research for my disser
tation under Dr. F. J. McGuigan, whose model of the neuromuscular
vii
viii
PREFACE
circuits of information processing (McGuigan, 1978a, 1978b) provided
another view of the components of imagery.
Imagery as a cognitive component of information processing has
gained rapidly increasing recognition and application in therapy in the
last 25 years. The psychophysiological components of imagery have
taken longer to investigate and map, possibly because of the complexity
and fluidity of imagery. The visual expression of imagery and its role in
affective and creative integration have been the predominant compo
nents of art therapy. The growth of art therapy as a discipline itself has
paralleled the rediscovery of imagery in psychology and psychotherapy.
Holt's article on imagery, "Imagery: The Return of the Ostracized"
(1964), was published within 3 years of the start of the American Journal of
Art Therapy (originally titled the Bulletin of Art Therapy) in 1961 and only 5
years prior to the establishment of the first art therapy graduate pro
grams at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, and the
Hahneman Medical School and Hospital in Philadelphia in 1969. Nev
ertheless, the interaction between the two aspects of expression, name
ly, imagery in verbal therapy and its visual expression, has been slow.
The present book is the first major effort to combine these two aspects.
Images as means of expression and representation have a sequence
of cognitive levels and depth of the emotional experience. The visual
expression of images, in turn, is multileveled and has its own formal
elements and syntax. Internal images emphasize the spatial, operational
component, or they can represent a subjective internal experience. In
the latter case the flow of imagery changes with the emotions associated
with the imagery as it can be seen in daydreams and dreams (Klinger,
1971).
The present volume explores the different components and devel
opmental, cognitive, and emotional aspects of imagery, visual expres
sion, and the interaction of the two. Chapter 1 introduces different
approaches to art therapy and creativity. The different components and
aspects of imagery and visual expression discussed in the first four
chapters of the book provide the basic building blocks for using imagery
and visual expression in therapy: different types and levels of imagery,
developmental aspects of imagery and symbolism, and the formal ele
ments and syntax of visual expression. Chapters 5 and 6 introduce a
systems approach using imagery and visual expression on different lev
els. The Expressive Therapies Continuum (Kagin & Lusebrink, 1978)
provides a conceptual model of using visual expression without an em
phasis on a particular therapeutic school of thought, and thus the differ
ent levels of expression and use of media can be accommodated to the
therapist and client's preferences. Chapter 7 deals with the flow of
PREFACE ix
thought and images, especially as it is influenced by emotions in
dreams, active imagination, and daydreams. Daydreams and adolescent
depression are discussed in Chapter 8. It is hoped that the psychotic and
schizophrenic art and visual expressions discussed in Chapter 9 will be
helpful not only in dealing with patients in these diagnostic categories
but also in serving as the basis for further insights in the formations of
imagery and its role in information processing. Chapter 10 concentrates
on the body/mind connection with a particular emphasis played by
emotions in either establishing these connections or disconnecting
them.
I hope that this book as a whole will generate further development
and interaction between the two aspects of the same coin: imagery and
its visual expression. The volume is designed to assist the therapist, the
student of imagery and art therapy, and also to some extent the inves
tigator of imagery. I also hope that the information presented here will
help the reader discover and understand the influence of and interaction
between the different components and aspects of imagery and its visual
expression, and their application in therapy.
Acknowledgments
The material for this book has been gathered over the last 20 years from
my experience as an art therapist; from my studies of the diverse mate
rial related to the many aspects of art therapy and imagery; from my
teaching, supervision, and interactions with many art therapy students;
and from my interactions with many art therapists and other profession
als. It is difficult to mention all the individuals and sources separately
without leaving some out, but I do want to acknowledge my indebted
ness to all of them. My special thanks, though, goes to all my students
who shared their ideas, observations, and experiences with me.
Specifically, I would like to thank my friends and fellow art thera
pists Janie Rhyne, Ph.D., ATR; Janet Long, M.A., MFCC, ATR; and
Linda Kotcher, M.A., for the stimulating discussions about art therapy
and its theoretical implications. My special thanks go to Sandra Graves,
Ph.D., ATR, whose collaboration and enthusiastic response to and
cross-fertilization with my ideas helped to formulate the concept of the
Expressive Therapies Continuum. Aina Nucho, Ph.D., ATR, has en
riched my thinking in different aspects of art therapy, including the
application of systems approach to art therapy. I cherish and appreciate
our interaction and her feedback on and encouragement of the early
versions of several chapters in this book. Similarly, I greatly appreciate
the reactions to the different chapters by Marcia Rosal, Ph.D., ATR, and
Melissa Gaskins, M.A. Melissa and .o ther graduate students over the
period of a number" of years have helped me with gathering the material
and compiling the bibliography. I deeply appreciate Nancy Roubieu's
dedicated help and professional expertise in editing and word
processing the manuscript, and Kathleen O'Connell's editorial com
ments. Bill Karlen, at the Instructional Communications Center of the
University of Louisville, took the photographs of the various artwork,
and I am thankful for his assistance.
xi
xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Jerome Singer, Ph. D., for his ideas and studies
in imagery, which I had followed in the literature over the years. My
deep appreciation goes to my clients who shared their experiences with
me, and I especially thank those whose work is reproduced here. I also
wish to thank my students who shared their dreams as part of their class
assignments and then allowed their dream images and descriptions to
be included in this book.