This text introduces readers to the diverse and unique ways art therapy is used with women who are undergoing various stages of the childbearing process, including conception, pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and postpartum. Art Therapy and Childbearing Issues discusses a range of topics including the role of transference/countertransference, attachment and maternal tasks, and neuropsychology. The book also addresses several motifs that are outside cultural norms of pregnancy and childbearing, such as racial sociopolitical issues, grief and loss, palliative care, midwifery, menstruation, sex-trafficking, disadvantaged populations, and incarceration. Each chapter offers research, modalities, case studies and suggestions on how to work in this field in a new way, accompanied by visual representations of different therapy methods and practices. The approachable style will appeal to a range of readers who will come away with a new awareness of art therapy and a greater knowledge of how to work with women as they enter and exit this universal, psychobiological experience.

Therapeutic Arts in Pregnancy, Birth and New Parenthood explores the use of arts in relation to infertility, pregnancy, childbirth and new parenthood. It is the first book to bring all these subjects together into one accessible volume with an international perspective. The book looks at the role of the arts in health with respect to the pregnancy journey, from conception to new parenthood. It introduces readers to the ways in which art is being used with women who are experiencing different stages of childbearing – who may be unable to conceive and are struggling with infertility treatment, or who experience miscarriage and loss, a traumatic birth, or grief over the loss of a baby. It also elucidates how art-making offers a means for women to express and understand their changed sense of self-identity and sexuality as a result of pregnancy and motherhood. The book has an international compass and is essential reading for arts therapy trainees and arts in health courses and will also be of interest to other health professionals and artists.

Jungian Art Therapy aims to provide a clear, introductory manual for art therapists on how to navigate Jung’s model of working with the psyche. This exciting new text circumambulates Jung’s map of the mind so as to reinforce the theoretical foundations of analytical psychology while simultaneously defining key concepts to help orient practitioners, students, and teachers alike. The book provides several methods, which illustrate how to work with the numerous images originating from the unconscious and glean understanding from them. Throughout the text readers will enjoy clinical vignettes to support each chapter and illuminate important lessons.

A comprehensive survey of women's issues within art therapy. Leading international practitioners discuss topics such as assertiveness, empowerment, sexuality and childbirth, as well as issues around class, race and age.

Children of violence need to be heard. Unable or unwilling to verbalize their suffering, abused children are often immobilized by fear, rage, guilt, and pain. In the second edition of Breaking the Silence: Art Therapy with Children from Violent Homes , Cathy Malchiodi demonstrates the unique power of art therapy as a tool for intervening with children from violent backgrounds. In this new edition, she describes the intervention process from intake to termination, noting the complex issues involved at various levels of evaluation and interpretation. Bringing her years of experience in working at battered women's shelters to bear on the subject, Ms. Malchiodi brings the language of art therapy to life--a language of art that gives children a voice and those who work with them, a way of listening. The emphasis here is on the short-term setting where time is at a premium and circumstances are unpredictable. It is within this setting that mental health practitioners often experience frustration and a sense of helplessness in their work with the youngest victims of abusive families. Since the first edition of this book was published, research has led to some new ideas related to sexual abuse. The author analyzes several issues concerning the treatment of sexually abused children and art expressions of sexually abused children. In addition, Ms. Malchiodi launches a discussion about the ethical issues in the use of children's art as a whole. Featured throughout the book are 95 drawings by abused children. These drawings are at once poignant and hopeful, clearly representing the extraordinary suffering that abused children experience at, at the same time, showing that they can be reached. Because the practice of art therapy methods has been integrated into many disciplines, the final chapter covers development of art therapy programs for children. The author shares information on art supplied, space, and storage ideas. For art therapists, social workers, and other practitioners who work with children in crisis, this book presents a practical methodology for intervention that fosters the compassion and insight necessary to reveal what words cannot.

Art Therapy Directives: An Intervention Toolbox is an all-inclusive manual of art therapy directives designed to be a comprehensive and organized resource for art therapists and other trained mental health professionals. Art therapy directives are directions for creating art and often require use of specific art media, both of which are tailored to the client’s particular need. Using this book, art therapists will be able to search by population, themes, and art media to find just the right project for their session whether working with individuals or in groups. Comprised of a compilation from traditional art therapy directives, the author’s own experiences, and other published practices, a wide range of mental health topics are included such as depression, self-esteem, life transitions, and trauma. Special consideration is given to populations like adolescents, older adults, veterans, and the LGBTQ+ community. This manual is the answer that many in the field of art therapy have been missing for an all-encompassing, organized reference book to guide art therapy sessions with a wide variety of client populations. .

Art therapy has been slow to embrace the critical and theoretical viewpoints, including feminism, that have made a huge impact on other areas of the humanities and social sciences. Art therapists are ideally situated, however, to respond to the growing awareness of how language, media and images influence gender inequality and the pressures that can lead to poor mental health, and diminished well being, among women. The contributors explore the ways in which gender issues can be addressed through art therapy. By being sensitive to the socio-cultural dimensions of women's lives, therapists can become more receptive to the needs of their female clients. The case studies included here illustrate how issues of class, ethnicity and gender introduce a social element into what is sometimes described as a purely personal, cathartic process. By discussing empowerment, sexuality, pregnancy and childbirth, this volume provides a comprehensive survey of women's issues within art therapy and will prompt a reevaluation of current training and practice in the field.