Expressive Arts Therapy: Outside Client Report
(Fall, 1998)
Session 1
In our first session, "Jim" discussed his ongoing problems with his
relationship with his father. His father had always been distant, but also
manic-depressive, and thus extremely difficult to communicate with. We
took some time to discuss this relationship, trying to clarify it's effect
on the client and assess what he wanted as a primary focus during the
sessions.
This manifested itself in a variety of forms, primarily affecting a
great many of his adult relationships. After some discussion, it was clear
that the client wanted some sort of resolution with his father, but was
completely unclear as to what that meant specifically. His father is not
only suffering from manic depression, but also from some severe physical
problems which may very well be life-threatening. Eventually, I decided
that it would be good to move into the non-verbal as part of the intake
session. Jim was perfectly happy discussing the issues, but it felt to me
as though there was only so much we could discuss that didn't just say
"there's a problem here that needs to be fixed" without going much deeper.
I led Jim through a guided visualization in which I asked him to
think of a place he used to be with his father, or something he used to do
with him when he was much younger, something which he viewed positively. I
chose this because I wanted to see if we could focus on specifically what
seemed like it was now missing from their relationship.
Jim choose to use watercolor pencils for the drawing, but that may
have been the result of inappropriate influence on my part, as I'd already
told him how much I loved them and how effective I'd found them for my own
personal use prior to our sessions. However, once he did start working
with them, I let that issue go because he did seem to enjoy them quite a
bit and they turned out to be rather effective, because they allowed him to
work in a detailed fashion and then move into a more sloppy, hands-on,
approach, like fingerpainting.
During the course of the meditation I asked him to focus on his own
body and see what the picture from his past was saying, and where it was
manifesting itself physically. Then I asked him to focus in on that part
of the body and ask it if it had anything to say to him, and to try to
notice if an image of some sort which came to him in response.
When done with the meditation, he started drawing, and the image
shown was the result.
Several things were immediately noticable. The first was that the
entire drawing was done in black. The Client himself mentioned this as he
was finishing up, not having realized he'd used only one color for the
entire piece. I pointed out to the client that my own interpretation of
the drawing was that while he was clinging to his father's hand, his father
seemed not to be paying attention to him at all. It was as though he was
an afterthought. The child seemed to be trying to get the father's
attention without the father paying any heed at all.
The Client saw this as a fairly accurate assessment of their
relationship. We also both felt that the use of black as the only color
was significant, with the implication that everything was muted and
monotonous, with no life or vibrance.
The image in the background was not explicitly clear, and further
discussion did little to increase understanding of it. Though it looked
almost like an ampitheater of some sort from one vantage point, and like
some sort of tunnel or void from another, it was unclear to myself or the
client if it had any specific meaning. We did explore the possibility that
it might be some sort of abyss or void or other representation of his
father's mental illness. While it seemed possible, no real conclusions
were reached in the first session. I suggested he think about it for
future reference, and let me know if he came to any conclusions about what
it might have meant.
However, we did reach some resolution in that the client had never
before realized just how much he'd always been trying to reach his father
to no avail. All in all, it was a good first session, helping us develop a
better assessment of what the problem was, though we didn't reach a very
specific goal, except that it was clear that he needs to do something to
sort things out with his father, even if on an entirely personal level.
(i.e., one which may not involve or require his father's direct
participation)
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Session 2
