| The focus of this descriptive study, based in heuristic and artistic inquiry, was to explore how creative arts therapists, particularly art and dance/movement therapists, make choices of art forms in clinical treatment based on their theoretical perspectives and practical experience. The literature review included established theory and practice within creative arts therapy, as well as information from related fields, notably intermodality, aesthetics, psychoanalytic theory, and infant research. Ten co-researchers, who were art, dance, and expressive arts therapists, participated. The findings revealed core themes of Creativity, Uniqueness of Using the Arts in Psychotherapy, Commonalities with All Forms of Psychotherapy, One Art Form as a Foundation, Personal Preferences for Art Forms, Correlations and Commonalities of Art Forms, Lack of Developmental Progression among Art Forms, Differential Properties of Art Forms, Aesthetics, and Choice of Art Forms. A comparison of core themes to the literature revealed that creativity was the sole established principle of creative arts therapy. The overarching finding was the lack of articulation and opacity in response to the entry of the arts into the therapeutic process. Most surprising was that the co-researchers, in comparison to the scholarly literature, used aesthetics minimally. This area of inquiry rose from the current evolution of creative arts therapy, as it questions or expands the tenets of the pioneers and takes on challenges that seek to incorporate expanded knowledge from within and outside of the field. This raises the question of whether or not the theoretical foundation of creative arts therapy is therefore lessened and/or loses a justification for a separate existence that is distinct from other disciplines of psychotherapy. An examination of traditional aesthetics, in addition to postmodern perspectives, should be critically assessed in order to determine their contributions to the field of creative arts therapy. The possibility was raised that a theory of aesthetic knowledge could come from creative arts therapy itself, creating a history and branch of philosophy that has not yet been developed. Not only would this benefit the field of creative arts therapy, but it would also serve as a contribution to the fields of both philosophy and psychotherapy. |
