The Revealing Image: Analytical Art Psychotherapy in Theory and Practice

Joy Schaverien, who trained as a painter and now works as an art therapist and psychotherapist, examines the psychological dynamics of the artist-patient's relationship to her or his own work. She believes that there is an innate healing potential in this process and that art interacts with the therapeutic relationship and enhances it in many valuable ways. In "The Revealing Image", Joy Schaverien argues that pictures may be understood as objects of transference in themselves and, in art therapy, as embodiments of the transference and countertransference relationship between client and therapist. She illustrates her theory with examples from clinical practice and shows how her thinking derives from psychoanalytic sources such as Freud, Jung and Winnicott as well as the work of the philosopher Ernst Cassirer. Using many illustrations, "The Revealing Image" aims to make the complex ideas of analytical art psychotherapy readily accessible. This book should be of interest to professionals in practice and training in art therapy, psychiatry, psychotherapy and related areas.