C.C. Thomas

Art therapy as witness; a sacred guide.

Tales and techniques from Horovitz's practice explain her way of co-creating what she calls "soulutions" with clients. The narrative, told in a personal and direct way and illustrated in b&w, begins by describing Horovitz's early experiences as an art therapy intern working with psychotic patients on the back wards of a psychiatric hospital. She then relates the cases of a number of wounded and disturbed people who have been helped by the act of creativity. Each chapter sums up with a conclusion and practical exercises. Horovitz (graduate art therapy, Nazareth College, Rochester, NY) is also the author of A Leap of Faith: The Call to Art. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Creating connections between nursing care and the creative arts therapies; expanding the concept of holistic care.

Some 22 contributors — therapists, nurses, social workers, therapeutic recreation specialists, and occupational therapists — explore the theoretical and practical applications of creative arts therapies to help patients and clients achieve specific goals or outcomes. Case studies describe therapeutic approaches involving visual arts, music, creative writing, dance and movement, and drama in various health-care settings. The volume is intended for health-care professionals including nurses, psychologists, social workers, physicians, and physical therapists. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Tools of the trade; a therapist's guide to art therapy assessments, 2d ed.

For some time art therapists have been inclined toward clinical practice rather than testing and assessment. However, therapists are increasingly being called upon to work in assessment, and they may need guidance about what tools to choose. Brooke provides critical reviews of a variety of art therapy tests with an emphasis on reliability and validity. The tools she reviews includes the human figure drawing test, kinetic family and school drawings, the Diagnostic Drawing Series, static and kinetic house-tree-person tests, family-centered circle drawings, the Silver Drawing Test of Cognition and Emotion, magazine photo collages, belief and dream assessments, the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale, and the Levick Emotional and Cognitive Art Therapy Assessment. She includes recommendations and a case study, along with an annotated list of Internet resources. The first edition of 1996 was published as A therapist's guide to art therapy assessments. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Word pictures; the poetry and art of art therapists.

In striving for acceptance as professionals, art therapists ironically often neglect their creative side, according to Moon (Mount Mary College, Milwaukee) and Schoenholtz, an independent art therapist practicing in Philadelphia. So rather than the usual focus of books in this field on its therapeutic aspects, this volume compiles invited poems by art therapists along with a biographical sketch, personal statement, self-selected photo, and in some cases, art. The editors provide personal examples of poems as nontraditional case studies. The book lacks an index and suggested further reading. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)