Читать книгу The Creative Arts in Counseling - Samuel Gladding T., Samuel T. Gladding - Страница 26

Think of a time when you were positively influenced by participating in one of the arts. It may have been playing an instrument, acting out a part in a play, painting a picture, dancing, taking a picture, going for a jog or walk, or arranging flowers. What did you notice about your participation that made you feel or act differently? How unique or universal do you think your experience is compared to others who may have accidentally or purposefully engaged in an arts activity and found themselves better in the end because of it?

Insight is another potential outcome from, and the seventh reason for, the use of the arts and artistic methods in counseling. Two types of insight are most likely to result. The first is primarily that of the participants in counseling, that is, the counselor and client. In this type of insight, one or both of these individuals comes to see a situation in a different light than when counseling began. For example, clients may see their situation as hopeless but not serious or as serious but not hopeless (Watzlawick, 1983). This type of focus makes a difference, for it is what people perceive that largely determines their degree of mental health or alienation (Ellis, 1988). In the second type of insight, mental health professionals in associations—for example, the American Counseling Association—gain new awareness into how they need to develop collectively. For example, they may recognize “that art often leads to science” and that balance is needed between scientific and artistic endeavors if the profession is to avoid becoming mechanical (Seligman, 1985, p. 3).

An eighth reason for using the arts in counseling centers involves socialization and cooperation. D. W. Johnson and Johnson (2017) compiled an extensive amount of information showing that cooperative tasks result in building rapport and establishing greater self-esteem and prosocial behavior. The arts are a useful means of promoting these two developments and provide a common ground for linking people to one another in a positive manner (Menninger Foundation, 1986).

A final reason why the arts are useful and appropriate in counseling is that they are multicultural (D. A. Henderson & Gladding, 1998; Lewis, 1997). With regard to cultures, counseling, and the arts, different cultures and clients within these cultures have preferred ways of expressing creativity and artistic ability (Molina et al., 2003). Counselors are challenged to help clients discover what works best for them, when, and even why. Counselors provide a resource of materials and examples for clients to use in sessions. They can prompt the types of positive experiences that go with these resources while simultaneously becoming attuned to culturally preferred ways of dealing with problematic situations.

In different cultural settings, the arts may do any of the following:

 Draw people out of self-consciousness and into self-awareness by having them express themselves in a symbolic manner

 Call attention to the process of expression as well as the universal and unique nature of strategies used in such a procedure

 Provide a set of concrete experiences clients can carry with them to help them relate to others and themselves

 Help clients develop new ideas and interests to use in relating to themselves and others outside of counseling

 Bring clients together cognitively, behaviorally, and mentally by giving them experiences that link them with their past, their present, and their future

 Help clients appreciate the beauty and wisdom of cultural backgrounds

 Promote positive feelings and affect that can be tapped when celebrating and coping with life’s highs and lows

 Engender hope, confidence, and insight in persons who have never realized their potential for living life to the fullest

Another way of summing up these benefits of the creative arts is to say that they are likely to contribute to

 behavioral activation (a highly effective treatment for depression),

 self-efficacy/mastery,

 overcoming experiential avoidance,

 strengthening personal identity (an evolving process), and

 social connectedness (Neilsen et al., 2016).

Numerous studies, especially with children, show the impact of the arts in different cultures, such as those by Omizo and Omizo (1989) with Hawaiian children, Constantino et al. (1986) with Latino children, Appleton and Dykeman (1996) with Native American children, and Woodard (1995) with Black children. The point is that there are multiple ways of using the arts in helping clients from different cultures and circumstances (Ishiyama & Westwood, 1992). Overall, creative arts interventions, such as visual arts, storytelling, dance, music, imagery, poetry, drama, writing, drawing, and movement, improve psychosocial functioning, spirituality, and meaning making in numerous populations (Phillips & Becker, 2019).