Читать книгу The Creative Arts in Counseling - Samuel Gladding T., Samuel T. Gladding - Страница 21

During the European Renaissance (starting in the 1500s), the use of the arts was emphasized in preventive and remedial mental health services, as it had been in ancient cultures. For example, in the 16th century, an Italian named Vittorino de Feltre emphasized poetry, dance, and games in the education of children and suggested the alternation of study and play in working with children (Flake, 1988). In the 1600s, “writers such as Robert Burton, author of The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), talked about the role of the imagination in both psychological illness and health” (Coughlin, 1990, p. A9). One of his premises was that individuals who were imaginative and creative were more likely to be healthy. They could respond to both comedies and tragedies and thereby keep a better balanced and realistic perspective on life.

The integration of health and the arts was exemplified in the work of 17th-century physicians such as Tommaso del Garbo, who advised his patients that one way to avoid the plague was to keep a positive mind-set and to listen to music (Peters, 2001). His belief in the healing power of music was apparently part of the culture of the day, as plays such as those written by William Shakespeare demonstrate. Likewise, the poetry of meditation in 17th-century England arose at this time with an emphasis on health and wholeness. Poets such as Robert Southwell, John Donne, and George Herbert practiced meditation to become more sensitive to the images within themselves, which they then expressed in verse (Martz, 1962). Thus, concentration led to art, which led in turn to further exploration and discovery of the self.

By the time of the Industrial Revolution in England (the 18th century), the use of the arts in the service of healing had expanded. Reformers such as Philippe Pinel in France, Benjamin Rush in the United States, and William Tuke in England stressed the humane treatment of mental patients. A form of counseling known as moral therapy was begun. In this approach to treatment, individuals with mental disorders were sent to country retreats to commune with nature, where they received individual attention, including occupational training and special involvement in arts such as reading, music, and painting. It was in this type of an environment that Vincent van Gogh, the famous Impressionist painter, spent part of his life as an adult. Overall, this approach proved to be beneficial but was quite time consuming and expensive. Thus, it was relatively short lived in Europe and the United States. Yet despite the brief lives of some forms of art treatment, the power and impact of the arts continued. Music, for instance, was seen as an adjunct to the practice of medicine in many cultures throughout the world (G. N. Heller, 1985). It is still valued in many medical settings: Soft, soothing music is often played in the background of physicians’ offices, and surgeons may play music that calms and inspires them when they are operating.