Creativity and the Dissociative Patient


Book Description

Lani Gerity shows in this book that puppet-making, incorporating both art and narrative, provides an ideal vehicle for therapeutic work. It is particularly valuable in the treatment of dissociative patients, whose symptoms may include disturbances in body image, a dissociated sense of self, a disrupted sense of history and causality, and a feeling of alienation from the self. Lani Gerity explores the application of this in the context of object relations theory. She shows the creative process working on many levels for dissociative individuals and groups. Making puppets, three-dimensional representations of the human body, helped one patient to integrate her sense of her body image and herself. Using puppets and creating narratives about them encourages patients to build communities and to release themselves from the hold of the trauma of their pasts. Descriptions and analyses of Gerity's work with dissociative patients in the US and Canada is underpinned by a theoretical framework which encompasses theories from the arts therapies and from psychiatry.




Dissociation, Mindfulness, and Creative Meditations


Book Description

Dissociation, Mindfulness, and Creative Meditations explores the potential of mindfulness and explains why this level of developmental human achievement is so precarious within traumatic stress, especially traumatic dissociation. Chapters discuss the connection and disconnection between mindfulness and dissociative disorders and highlight the importance of gently creating a mindfulness practice for traumatized individuals. Readers will learn how to exercise the part of the brain that is responsible for mindfulness and how to regulate the part that is responsible for dissociation, and they’ll come away from the book with tips that will help even the most dissociative client to reap the benefits of mindfulness practices.




Dissociation in Children and Adolescents


Book Description

Illustrates the critical association between pathological dissociation and trauma, and provides a clear synthesis of what is known about the psychobiology of dissociative disorders and the effects of pathological dissociation on cognition and memory. Amply illustrated with clinical vignettes, it also offers an array of diagnostic and treatment techniques.




Do Both Psychopathology and Creativity Result from a Labile Wake-Sleep-Dream Cycle?


Book Description

Laypeople think of wake, sleep and dreaming as distinct states of the mind/brain but “in-between”, hybrid states are recognized. For example, day-dreaming or, more scientifically, the default network occurs during wake. Equally, during sleep, lucid dreaming in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep presents as another hybrid state. But hybrid states are usually temporary. This book explores the possibility of an enduring hybrid wake-sleep-dream state, proposing that such a state may engender both creativity and psychopathologies. REM sleep is hyper-associative. Creativity depends on making remote associations. If REM sleep and dreaming begin to suffuse the wake state, enhanced creativity may result. But moderate to severe interpenetration of wake, sleep and dreaming may engender psychopathologies – as the functions of wake, sleep and dreaming are partially eroded.




The Handbook of Art Therapy


Book Description

The Handbook of Art Therapy has become the standard introductory text into the theory and practice of art therapy in a variety of settings. This comprehensive book concentrates on the work of art therapists: what they do, where they practice, and how and why art and therapy can combine to help the search for health and understanding of underlying problems. In this third edition, new developments in the profession are clearly described, including sections on neuroscience, research, private practice and the impact of technology on the therapeutic setting. Caroline Case and Tessa Dalley are highly experienced in the teaching, supervision and clinical practice of art therapy. Using first-hand accounts of the experience of art therapy from therapists and patients, they cover such aspects as the influence of psychodynamic thinking, the role of the image in the art process and the setting in which the art therapist works. The Handbook of Art Therapy also focuses on art therapists themselves, and their practice, background and training. The book includes an extensive bibliography, encompassing a comprehensive coverage of the current literature on art therapy and related subjects, and contains a glossary of psychoanalytic terms. Covering basic theory and practice for clinicians and students at all levels of training, this is a key text for art therapists, counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists and students at all levels, as well as professionals working in other arts therapies.




Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders


Book Description

This second edition of the award-winning original text brings together in one volume the current thinking and conceptualizations on dissociation and the dissociative disorders. Comprised of ten parts, starting with historical and conceptual issues, and ending with considerations for the present and future, internationally renowned authors in the trauma and dissociation fields explore different facets of dissociation in pathological and non-clinical guises. This book is designed to be the most comprehensive reference book in the dissociation field and aims to provide a scholarly foundation for understanding dissociation, dissociative disorders, current issues and perspectives within the field, theoretical formulations, and empirical findings. Chapters have been thoroughly updated to include recent developments in the field, including: the complex nature of conceptualization, etiology, and neurobiology; the various manifestations of dissociation in clinical and non-clinical forms; and different perspectives on how dissociation should be understood. This book is essential for clinicians, researchers, theoreticians, students of clinical psychology psychiatry, and psychotherapy, and those with an interest or curiosity in dissociation in the various ways it can be conceived and studied.




Creativity and the Performing Artist


Book Description

Creativity and the Performing Artist: Behind the Mask synthesizes and integrates research in the field of creativity and the performing arts. Within the performing arts there are multiple specific domains of expertise, with domain-specific demands. This book examines the psychological nature of creativity in the performing arts. The book is organized into five sections. Section I discusses different forms of performing arts, the domains and talents of performers, and the experience of creativity within performing artists. Section II explores the neurobiology of physiology of creativity and flow. Section III covers the developmental trajectory of performing artists, including early attachment, parenting, play theories, personality, motivation, and training. Section IV examines emotional regulation and psychopathology in performing artists. Section V closes with issues of burnout, injury, and rehabilitation in performing artists. - Discusses domain specificity within the performing arts - Encompasses dance, theatre, music, and comedy performance art - Reviews the biology behind performance, from thinking to movement - Identifies how an artist develops over time, from childhood through adult training - Summarizes the effect of personality, mood, and psychopathology on performance - Explores career concerns of performing artists, from injury to burn out




The Art of Art Therapy


Book Description

The Art of Art Therapy is written primarily to help art therapists define and then refine a way of thinking about their work. This new edition invites the reader to first consider closely the main elements of the discipline embodied in its name: The Art Part and The Therapy Part. The interface helps readers put the two together in an integrated, artistic way, followed by chapters on Applications and Related Service. Included with this edition is a DVD containing two hours of chapter-related video content.




Amongst Ourselves


Book Description

Amongst Ourselves is a self-help guide written expressly for individuals with DID/MPD--and the first to provide readers with the practical steps they can take to cope with the condition and emerge with greater self-awareness and the skills to live a rich and rewarding life. Authors Tracy Alderman and Karen Marshall explain what DID is and provide a clear account of its underlying causes and symptoms. They describe what it's like to live with DID and make practical suggestions for coming to terms with the condition, managing the confusion and self-destructive behaviors that often accompany it, and deciding to "come out" to others. Karen lends a unique and immensely important perspective, in that she is able to speak as both a therapist and as an individual with DID. Through her insights, as well as guided exercises throughout the text, readers learn: New skills and strategies to help them manage living with DID An appreciation for DID's positive aspects What to expect from therapy and available treatment options How to become more aware of themselves and the ways in which DID affects their lives




Creative Mastery in Hypnosis and Hypnoanalysis


Book Description

The scope of Erika Fromm's profound contributions to the clinical and research literature in hypnosis and related areas is reflected in this volume, which consists of chapters written by those who have worked closely with the noted psychologist and/or have been significantly influenced by her. The subject matter presented here ranges from detailed accounts and personal observations relating to Fromm's distinguished career, to some very new and valuable data on the psychophysiological correlates of hypnosis, the phenomenology of self-hypnosis, and an integrative model for short-term therapy. Several extensions of clinical technique for the treatment of trauma and severe psychopathology are also discussed. Professional therapists with an interest in personal growth, self-awareness, and creative mastery, whether or not they already have an interest in hypnosis, will derive significant benefits from this book. Readers who have previously eschewed hypnosis may find that this volume stimulates an interest that enriches their clinical practice and/or research.