I am attempting to summarize last week's presentation of neutral monism by Gary S. This will be difficult but I will include some definitions and some of Gary's statements here from the notes I took and also some definitions that I have looked up. Hopefully this information will provide some base for this week's continuing discussion of this topic.
Neutral monism definitions: According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neutral-monism/ " Neutral monism is a monistic metaphysics. It holds that ultimate reality is all of one kind. To this extent neutral monism is in agreement with idealism AND materialism. What distinguishes neutral monism from its better known monistic rivals is the claim that the intrinsic nature of ultimate reality is neither mental nor physical. This negative claim also captures the idea of neutrality: being intrinsically neither mental nor physical in nature ultimate reality is said to be neutral between the two."
In considering this theory, we end up with three questions according to the article cited above from the Stanford Encyclopedia:
1.) What is the nature of the neutral entities that form ultimate reality? 2) What is the relationship of these neutral entities to matter? and 3) What is the relationship of these neutral entities to mind?
Required in this theory is a way for mental and physical phenomena that are real to be either reducible to or constructable from the underlying neutral level. This means that some unit of these phenomena must be able to go either way, be reduced to and be constructed from. Theorists have determined that the usual units of matter such as electrons and neutrons can not be both. Can thoughts be these units of entity that can go both ways? Probably not. Therefore some of the theorists have postulated that this unit of phenomena could be information. Gary talked about this at some length during his presentation and I think will talk more about this in the coming week's session.
From the Stanford Encyclopedia article cited: "The main task of a neutral monist theory is therefore to show how, given a certain notion of mind and body, a class of neutral entities can be specified and how mental and physical states can be reduced to/constructed from these entities. The success of a given version of neutral monism should be judged primarily on the basis of how well it handles these problems.
The article at Stanford Encyclopedia referenced lists quite a list of neutral monistic theorists. We have heard some of their names in the presentation. Certainly their writings would be further source for looking into these philosophical ideas further. These names include Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677); Ernst Mach (1838-1916); Richard Avenarius (1843-96); Joseph Petzoldt (1862-1929); and then more known William James (184201910); Ralph Barton Perry (1876-1957); Edwin B. Holt (1873-1946); Bertrand Rrussel (1872-1970).
A current philosopher is Kenneth Sayre who after working in the cybernetics and artificial intelligence area has also delved into some philosophy of mind work. His book is "Cybernetics and the Philosophy of mind (1976, reprinted in 2014)". From Wikipedia: "One widely discussed view in this book is Sayre's version of neutral monism. As he defines it, neutral monism is the thesis that mind and matter are both reducible to an ontologically more basic "neutral" principle. The more basic principle in his account is information, in the technical sense of information theory. Sayre's version has been recognized by several recent authors as one of the more credible forms of neutral monism available to date."
From the Stanford Encyclopedia article cited: "Among contemporary and recent philosophers who either are neo-Russellians or are sympathetic to neo-Russellian ideas we find David Chalmers (who Gary has quoted), the only "mere" sympathizer in the lineup) and Daniel Stoljar. They belong into the group pinning their hope on a third, as yet unknown, set of properties that constitute both mind and matter."
Here I wanted to provide a summary of Gary's presentation as I usually do. I took 6 pages of notes during his talk last week. I thought I could just go back and offer some definitions and brief summaries of this presentation. But I found that I couldn't make much sense at all of my notes. There are just a lot of big words and big word combinations from the world of philosophy and consciousness theory. My brain ran out of energy. I could not wrap it around these ideas. Perhaps this coming week's discussion and Gary's second presentation will clear some of this up.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Schedule
March 12, 2015: Gary: Neutral Monism
March 19, 2015: Gary: Neutral Monism
March 26, 2015: A Dialogue: Buddhism and the Belief or NonBelief in Rebirth
Location of article from "Tricycle": http://www.tricycle.com/feature/reincarnation-debate?page=0,2
April 2, 2015: Bake Off
April 9, 2015: Paul: Default Mode Network in Neuroscience
April 16, 2015:
April 23, 2015:
April 30, 2015: Pohlman Davison Society: Su's house, More information to come.
March 19, 2015: Gary: Neutral Monism
March 26, 2015: A Dialogue: Buddhism and the Belief or NonBelief in Rebirth
Location of article from "Tricycle": http://www.tricycle.com/feature/reincarnation-debate?page=0,2
April 2, 2015: Bake Off
April 9, 2015: Paul: Default Mode Network in Neuroscience
April 16, 2015:
April 23, 2015:
April 30, 2015: Pohlman Davison Society: Su's house, More information to come.
March 5, 2015: Directed Bake Off: Art Therapy Continued.
A picture is nothing but a bridge between the soul of the artist and that of the spectator. (Eugene Delacroix)
Since Lori did such a good job last week of telling us about her field of study and work, and since I read some desire within the group to have more time to discuss the vast information that she presented, I decided to make this Bake Off a so-called directed Bake Off in order to provide a chance to expand our consideration of art therapy and empathy.Lori and several members of our group clarified that Art Therapy primarily draws out the client. It is using art to bring out a narrative, a story, from that client and then moves further by interacting with the art.
Lori studies at Mount Mary College which is one of only 60 programs in Art Therapy.
Paul mentioned that one could ask "How does it feel to be in that picture?" and this question might succeed in drawing out the client. He described one patient of his who had Ashberger's Syndrome and always drew himself as a locomotive. He could not see the need to study math or other subjects, but this identification that he had with train locomotives could be used to help him with his math homework by framing what he had to learn in the language or examples of math calculations.
One member asked Lori if the colors of the art work used or drawn by the client had any significance. We recently had a presentation on color therapy and learned how colors do play a role in people's moods and may even have beneficial or curative influences. Lori answered that the use of color by clients is often subtle. Bright colors are not always positive and vice versa. The actual nature of the drawing tells us more. For example one client might show an explosion and even though it was drawn with bright colors, the nature of this depicted explosion showed the chaos in his life. Therefore, a client uses certain colors but it may not be a conscious choice and those colors may not have the meaning you would think.
Another member asked if anyone had heard of the Luscher color test. This is a psychological test invented by Dr. Max Lusher in Basel, Switzerland. Dr. Luscher believed that sensory perception of color is objective and shared by all but that color preferences are subjective and that these subjective states can be measured by using test colors. Luscher believed that color selections which are guided unconsciously, they reveal the person as they really are and not as they would like to be perceived or as they may falsely perceive themselves. Luscher developed a list of meanings of certain test colors and used these to analyze clients. The results of this color test have not been scientifically proven and most people fell it is not valid. There was some testing done trying to compare the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory which is regarded as an effective testing device with the Luscher Color Test and there weas no significant agreement between the two test results.
Paul commented that when he is treating chronic pain, he asks the patient to answer several questions about the nature of their pain: How big is it? What shape is it? Where is the pain? And what color is the pain? As treatment of the pain progresses, one does not have to get into interpreting the color, but the therapist can see if treatment is changing the color of the pain. You are not specifically trying to change one color to another but it does change so that you can see some effect of the therapy.
Mark spent some time describing what he does in his work with neurofeedback. He described that people that come to see him for neurofeedback treatment have had lots of treatments. They have seen a lot of doctors, had consults, medications, and various behavioral therapies. In other words, almost everything has been tried. but what he does is like art therapy, in that it is non invasive. By invasive he means that it does not alter the body's neurochemistry as medications do, nor apply shock therapy or involve invasive procedures. Briefly he described neurofeedback as using technology to mirror the state of consciousness back to the client using audio and visual feedback. Really the brain's activity is shown to the patient through varying sound and visual graphs or spikes. Some members expressed an interest in learning more about these techniques from Mark so that this might be a future program.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
February 26, 2015: Responsive Art Making in Art Therapy and Empathy
I am going to take a little different approach this time in the blog for this week's session. This is because I was completely blown away by Lori's presentation. First of all, being a retired physician, and therefore with a huge science background, I was certainly grounded in the materialistic narrative of world view. Carried to an extreme, to me this means that the brain is the brain and it basically consists of biochemical reactions that produce electrical currents from one area of the brain to another in pathways and networks. And it would be these currents that somehow create our consciousness. Of course, after all these years in our Spirit Mind Body Group, these rigid materialistic views of consciousness have been modified by exposure to the strong Buddhist bent of this group, and to the strong intellects and spiritual knowledge and practices of the members of the group. This means that I can identify with many of our spiritual topics as they are presented. But this presentation was something totally foreign to me. Of course I had a simplistic view of using art in therapy. My view could be likened to the simplistic view of art being used in a TV crime show where a child is asked to make a drawing representing her life, or her family, or something that happened to her and then using that drawing to imply and then ascertain if some sort of crime was committed and seen by the child. A very simplistic view indeed, as I learned from Lori's presentation.
Lori was kind enough to provide through Sharleen copies of three articles on which she based her presentation. If you have not received these in your emails, please let Sharleen know at sharleen@itech-mke.com and she can either send you a copy in your email or either she or I could make a hard copy for you and get it too you. I am only going to present a very brief summary of some of the concepts that she considered here because they are quite complex, and I think can best be understood by reading these articles. I cannot put a link to them or copy them here because they are in PDF format and blogger.com does not let me upload them. Because Lori has already done some dramatic condensing of these concepts, for me to further summarize, we will lose significant meaning. Therefore, here are some definitions and brief outline topics. But I advise reading the whole articles.
Summary of Lori's presentation:
Response art is making art in response to another art piece. Don Jones was an art therapy pioneer who used art as an asylum and a way to survive. Talk therapy combined with painting has evolved over time.Art is used to form a relationship, as a way to communicate, and helps the therapist understand the client. The therapist needs to ask: "How does the art want me to work? This helps cut through the verbal because many times the client can not use words well to describe or relate.
Sometimes the art therapist literally and sometimes figuratively sits in the client's chair, using his art media, to recreate the client's artwork. The therapist brings in the conscious as well as the pre conscious portions. At other times, the art therapist uses the perceptions and feelings of the client to make art. Art allows whatever needs glimpsing to be seen when the words do not come.
Lori went into some detail about the Franklin article on mirror neurons. The article describes a part of the macaque's brains where there are what are called mirror neurons. This is thought to happen in humans as well. When we see another being move, obviously using motor neurons to accomplish that movement, there are mirror neurons that also fire up while seeing another move. These mirror neurons do not make the viewer move, but instead there is an implicit automatic unconscious embodiment of another. This provides a completely different way of experiencing the other.
Another way to look at art therapy utilizes the fact that a person appreciates art with their feeling. The art viewer often puts themselves into the art, empathizing with the painting and also the painter. As consciousness is concerned, I, the viewer am totally part of the art. This is called aesthetic Einfuhlung, a German word that means aesthetic empathy.
Intersubjectivity plays a role Explain Definition: comprehensible to, relating to, or used by a number of persons or conscious beings as a concept or language.
Also attachment theory enters into art therapy. The therapist and the client share a subjective state to form an attachment. Lipp, a prominent theorist worked with a mother and child. The eye can penetrate into art to bridge the space between self and other. Art therapy works to get a felt sense of the art to help expression. The art object becomes a safer place to hold the feelings. It is not just a formulaic way to interpret what is expressed in the art creation. Rather the purpose is more to get into the art. One psychoanalyst by the name of Donald Winnicott would start a squiggle with an art medium. The patient would then complete the squiggle. The patient then gives a narrative. The art, or just the squiggle, has become a place to hold the story or the narrative. One can approach the painting if that is the medium as a message from the inner person, the client. In this way, art therapy is related to meditative practice and to psychotherapy. Transference and countertransference end up playing a role as well.
Another way to use art therapy is to encourage dialogue with an art image with the image as a living being. One could ask the image "What do you want? How do you feel?"
In art therapy, there occurs a contemplative relationship. The artist and the subject have a reciprocal relationship.
End of Summary.
This is Lori's field of study and she has the wonderful benefit of having read in depth and studied the current field of art therapy and she now practices this field at St. Luke's along with her studies. She did a marvelous and very thorough job of summarizing the extensive and intensive work and conclusions of several articles written by no doubt experts in this relatively new and emerging area of study. Lori was kind enough to provide three of these articles to each member of the group who has emails listed with Sharleen. I have read these articles and they certainly made this morning's presentation more clear. However, she did very concisely present a summary of these articles. What I found most remarkable was the complexity and variability of the processes used now in art therapy. Knowing the psychological complexities of human behavior, I am amazed that these processes have become as successful as apparently they have become. Here I would like to just quote a small section of one of thee articles which describes all the communicative connections that have to take place in the therapist, in the client, and then in the figurative space between these two individuals all also influenced by the interpretative complexities of non verbal artistic creation. That this works and I have no doubt that it does, amazes me. Here is the quote: From: Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. "Affect Regulation, Mirror Neurons, and the Third Hand Formulating Mindful Empathic Art Interventions." Michael Franklin PhD, Naropa University, Boulder, CO April 22, 2011.
"The layered elements that form visual empathic, responses ultimately unfold in a quick succession of subtle, albeit informed, intuitions that result from education, clinical training, and overall life experience. Because these informed intuitions emerge as automatic thoughts, it may be helpful to describe the process of their emergence, as follows:
"The progression of empathic insight and response begins with a contemplative mindful lens, in which the art therapist's intention should be to slow down and remain present without judgements (Franklin, 1990). This initial phase attempts a neutral posture, suspending the habit of judging, categorizing, explaining, or knowing. The goal is to be mindfully present to presenting imagery and behavior, bracketing out points of bias or impulsive interpretations that might contaminate a fresh, beginner's mind. The desired attitude is that of meeting a stranger for the first time with a welcoming, unconditional presence.
"Next, the therapist aims to receive the ongoing, multiple, communications of the client -- including verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues -- within the therapist's own body. it is also important to observe facial expressions and nonverbal patterns unfolding in the environment (Schlore & Schore, 2008). Being mindfully receptive to this relational field will cultivate an intrapersonal tolerance for the ambiguous, layered information emerging in the session.
"The therapist then directs his or her efforts toward becoming phenomenologically aware of the primary core formal elements that comprise these verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues. The therapist must check transference and countertransference reactions and sort out related and unrelated personal identifications with the art and other expressions presented. Given the likelihood that the therapist's mirror neuron system has been activated, somatic cues can be used as sources of information to monitor. the therapist filters all of this information by omitting irrelevant material and distilling the primary data into the core content to be communicated. The core content becomes the consolidated emotional center of all verbal, visual, and somatic communications (Sobol & Willims, 2001).
"The core material is sifted further when the art therapist aligns it with similarities in his or her personal history that are based in resonance rather than over identification. As with the difference between empathy (feeling within), and sympathy (Feeling for), the therapist carefully monitors the potential for merger through projective identification. At this point contertransference becomes available as a form of sublimated empathy.
"Acting in the hold of the "third Hand" or auxiliary ego, a visual narrative is then judiciously crafted. this consolidated and symbolic communication responds to what Schlore and Schore (2008) called the "music" behind discursive language. Finally, visual intervention is offered in the least intrusive way when the therapist attunes to the client's artistic style or visual "handwriting" (Kramer, 1986). This completes the empathic art process.
"To summarize, in this image- and client-centered approach, isomorphic expression from the client is answered with empirically accurate, isomorphic expression from the art therapist. In essence, the art therapist receives the affect of the client from his or her art and other layered expressions, manages initial ambiguities by skillfully filtering this material through personal yet objective identifications and associations, and offers back an artistic response. This response consolidates and communicates with clarity the emotional center of the changes experienced in the session.
"The crafting of empathic art responses requires several additional considerations. First, it is necessary to take into account one's own unconscious processes and messages. The intersubjective exchange between client and art therapist is actually an interaction of two intermingling histories. (Teicholz, 1999). The postmodern perspective is that no true objective reality exists; rather, multiple subjective realities are constructed out of personal experiences. The therapist's subjective perception is therefore crucial because it is always possible for unconscious messages to be communicated through the therapist's misattuned responses. This is why meditation practice is an important intrapersonal strategy for cultivating awareness, attention, and intention, all of which help monitor any subtle miscues.
Due to the complexities and the vast trove of information presented last Thursday morning, I suggested that we use this next week's Bake Off to further discuss some of these concepts. We will have more or less, a directed Bake Off, rather than the usual free for all. I do believe that several of our group had comments to make. I advise members to read the articles, and jot down questions, comments, or other narratives that might contribute to this discussion next week.
In my usual attempt to provide something visual and not just endless written words in this blog, I thank Dave K. for sending me this you tube link. I think it demonstrates art therapy to an extreme. Of course, the creator of these amazing structures did them as a therapy for himself, but I think we can all receive some therapy from viewing what he has done.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/oxcftjJ39BU
Here is an idea for a future meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7YFrMqbcQ8
3 minute art therapy are youtube videos made by Pamela Hayes, art therapist. Most are more primitive or crafty art than what Lori has described, but I think the idea of Winnicott carried further by his students and now Pamela Hayes who has two people exchange squiggles and then has other person make the squiggle into a drawing.
Lori was kind enough to provide through Sharleen copies of three articles on which she based her presentation. If you have not received these in your emails, please let Sharleen know at sharleen@itech-mke.com and she can either send you a copy in your email or either she or I could make a hard copy for you and get it too you. I am only going to present a very brief summary of some of the concepts that she considered here because they are quite complex, and I think can best be understood by reading these articles. I cannot put a link to them or copy them here because they are in PDF format and blogger.com does not let me upload them. Because Lori has already done some dramatic condensing of these concepts, for me to further summarize, we will lose significant meaning. Therefore, here are some definitions and brief outline topics. But I advise reading the whole articles.
Summary of Lori's presentation:
Response art is making art in response to another art piece. Don Jones was an art therapy pioneer who used art as an asylum and a way to survive. Talk therapy combined with painting has evolved over time.Art is used to form a relationship, as a way to communicate, and helps the therapist understand the client. The therapist needs to ask: "How does the art want me to work? This helps cut through the verbal because many times the client can not use words well to describe or relate.
Sometimes the art therapist literally and sometimes figuratively sits in the client's chair, using his art media, to recreate the client's artwork. The therapist brings in the conscious as well as the pre conscious portions. At other times, the art therapist uses the perceptions and feelings of the client to make art. Art allows whatever needs glimpsing to be seen when the words do not come.
Lori went into some detail about the Franklin article on mirror neurons. The article describes a part of the macaque's brains where there are what are called mirror neurons. This is thought to happen in humans as well. When we see another being move, obviously using motor neurons to accomplish that movement, there are mirror neurons that also fire up while seeing another move. These mirror neurons do not make the viewer move, but instead there is an implicit automatic unconscious embodiment of another. This provides a completely different way of experiencing the other.
Another way to look at art therapy utilizes the fact that a person appreciates art with their feeling. The art viewer often puts themselves into the art, empathizing with the painting and also the painter. As consciousness is concerned, I, the viewer am totally part of the art. This is called aesthetic Einfuhlung, a German word that means aesthetic empathy.
Intersubjectivity plays a role Explain Definition: comprehensible to, relating to, or used by a number of persons or conscious beings as a concept or language.
Also attachment theory enters into art therapy. The therapist and the client share a subjective state to form an attachment. Lipp, a prominent theorist worked with a mother and child. The eye can penetrate into art to bridge the space between self and other. Art therapy works to get a felt sense of the art to help expression. The art object becomes a safer place to hold the feelings. It is not just a formulaic way to interpret what is expressed in the art creation. Rather the purpose is more to get into the art. One psychoanalyst by the name of Donald Winnicott would start a squiggle with an art medium. The patient would then complete the squiggle. The patient then gives a narrative. The art, or just the squiggle, has become a place to hold the story or the narrative. One can approach the painting if that is the medium as a message from the inner person, the client. In this way, art therapy is related to meditative practice and to psychotherapy. Transference and countertransference end up playing a role as well.
Another way to use art therapy is to encourage dialogue with an art image with the image as a living being. One could ask the image "What do you want? How do you feel?"
In art therapy, there occurs a contemplative relationship. The artist and the subject have a reciprocal relationship.
End of Summary.
This is Lori's field of study and she has the wonderful benefit of having read in depth and studied the current field of art therapy and she now practices this field at St. Luke's along with her studies. She did a marvelous and very thorough job of summarizing the extensive and intensive work and conclusions of several articles written by no doubt experts in this relatively new and emerging area of study. Lori was kind enough to provide three of these articles to each member of the group who has emails listed with Sharleen. I have read these articles and they certainly made this morning's presentation more clear. However, she did very concisely present a summary of these articles. What I found most remarkable was the complexity and variability of the processes used now in art therapy. Knowing the psychological complexities of human behavior, I am amazed that these processes have become as successful as apparently they have become. Here I would like to just quote a small section of one of thee articles which describes all the communicative connections that have to take place in the therapist, in the client, and then in the figurative space between these two individuals all also influenced by the interpretative complexities of non verbal artistic creation. That this works and I have no doubt that it does, amazes me. Here is the quote: From: Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. "Affect Regulation, Mirror Neurons, and the Third Hand Formulating Mindful Empathic Art Interventions." Michael Franklin PhD, Naropa University, Boulder, CO April 22, 2011.
"The layered elements that form visual empathic, responses ultimately unfold in a quick succession of subtle, albeit informed, intuitions that result from education, clinical training, and overall life experience. Because these informed intuitions emerge as automatic thoughts, it may be helpful to describe the process of their emergence, as follows:
"The progression of empathic insight and response begins with a contemplative mindful lens, in which the art therapist's intention should be to slow down and remain present without judgements (Franklin, 1990). This initial phase attempts a neutral posture, suspending the habit of judging, categorizing, explaining, or knowing. The goal is to be mindfully present to presenting imagery and behavior, bracketing out points of bias or impulsive interpretations that might contaminate a fresh, beginner's mind. The desired attitude is that of meeting a stranger for the first time with a welcoming, unconditional presence.
"Next, the therapist aims to receive the ongoing, multiple, communications of the client -- including verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues -- within the therapist's own body. it is also important to observe facial expressions and nonverbal patterns unfolding in the environment (Schlore & Schore, 2008). Being mindfully receptive to this relational field will cultivate an intrapersonal tolerance for the ambiguous, layered information emerging in the session.
"The therapist then directs his or her efforts toward becoming phenomenologically aware of the primary core formal elements that comprise these verbal, visual, behavioral, and somatic cues. The therapist must check transference and countertransference reactions and sort out related and unrelated personal identifications with the art and other expressions presented. Given the likelihood that the therapist's mirror neuron system has been activated, somatic cues can be used as sources of information to monitor. the therapist filters all of this information by omitting irrelevant material and distilling the primary data into the core content to be communicated. The core content becomes the consolidated emotional center of all verbal, visual, and somatic communications (Sobol & Willims, 2001).
"The core material is sifted further when the art therapist aligns it with similarities in his or her personal history that are based in resonance rather than over identification. As with the difference between empathy (feeling within), and sympathy (Feeling for), the therapist carefully monitors the potential for merger through projective identification. At this point contertransference becomes available as a form of sublimated empathy.
"Acting in the hold of the "third Hand" or auxiliary ego, a visual narrative is then judiciously crafted. this consolidated and symbolic communication responds to what Schlore and Schore (2008) called the "music" behind discursive language. Finally, visual intervention is offered in the least intrusive way when the therapist attunes to the client's artistic style or visual "handwriting" (Kramer, 1986). This completes the empathic art process.
"To summarize, in this image- and client-centered approach, isomorphic expression from the client is answered with empirically accurate, isomorphic expression from the art therapist. In essence, the art therapist receives the affect of the client from his or her art and other layered expressions, manages initial ambiguities by skillfully filtering this material through personal yet objective identifications and associations, and offers back an artistic response. This response consolidates and communicates with clarity the emotional center of the changes experienced in the session.
"The crafting of empathic art responses requires several additional considerations. First, it is necessary to take into account one's own unconscious processes and messages. The intersubjective exchange between client and art therapist is actually an interaction of two intermingling histories. (Teicholz, 1999). The postmodern perspective is that no true objective reality exists; rather, multiple subjective realities are constructed out of personal experiences. The therapist's subjective perception is therefore crucial because it is always possible for unconscious messages to be communicated through the therapist's misattuned responses. This is why meditation practice is an important intrapersonal strategy for cultivating awareness, attention, and intention, all of which help monitor any subtle miscues.
Due to the complexities and the vast trove of information presented last Thursday morning, I suggested that we use this next week's Bake Off to further discuss some of these concepts. We will have more or less, a directed Bake Off, rather than the usual free for all. I do believe that several of our group had comments to make. I advise members to read the articles, and jot down questions, comments, or other narratives that might contribute to this discussion next week.
In my usual attempt to provide something visual and not just endless written words in this blog, I thank Dave K. for sending me this you tube link. I think it demonstrates art therapy to an extreme. Of course, the creator of these amazing structures did them as a therapy for himself, but I think we can all receive some therapy from viewing what he has done.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/oxcftjJ39BU
Here is an idea for a future meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7YFrMqbcQ8
3 minute art therapy are youtube videos made by Pamela Hayes, art therapist. Most are more primitive or crafty art than what Lori has described, but I think the idea of Winnicott carried further by his students and now Pamela Hayes who has two people exchange squiggles and then has other person make the squiggle into a drawing.
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