Handbook of Art Therapy

Front Cover
Cathy A. Malchiodi
Guilford Publications, 2003 - Education - 461 pages
This essential handbook provides a complete and practical overview of art therapy: how it works, how it can be used, and with whom. Demonstrated are interventions for children, adolescents, and adults facing a variety of clinical problems and life challenges. Case-based chapters from leading practitioners illuminate major theoretical perspectives, including psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, developmental, and other approaches. Also examined is what current research in psychology and neuroscience can tell us about the scientific basis for art therapy. Discussing applications in individual psychotherapy, couple and family treatment, and group work, the Handbook includes over 100 samples of drawings and other artwork. The process of art therapy is illustrated in helping clients manage and cope with such problems as trauma, sexual abuse, developmental and learning disabilities, drug and alcohol misuse, serious mental illness, and medical illness. Appendices include descriptions of empirically supported approaches to art-based assessment, some of which are written by the instrument developers themselves.

About the author (2003)

Cathy A. Malchiodi, ATR, LPAT, LPCC, an art therapist, expressive art therapist, and clinical mental health counselor, is an internationally recognized authority on art therapy with children, adults, and families. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) and past editor of [i]Art Therapy: Journal of the AATA.[/i] She has received numerous honors for her work, including recognition from the AATA, the Kennedy Center for the Arts, Very Special Arts, and the China Association for the Handicapped. The author of [i]Understanding Children's Drawings[/i], Ms. Malchiodi has also published several other authored or edited books as well as over 60 articles and chapters, and has given more than 160 presentations on art therapy. She currently serves as editor of [i]Trauma and Loss: Research and Interventions[/i] and is on the faculty of the National Institute for Trauma and Loss and the Graduate Program in Expressive Therapies at the University of Louisville.