The Arts Therapies

Book excerpt: The separate arts therapies – drama, art, music and dance – are becoming available to increasing numbers of clients as mental health professionals discover their potential to reach and help people. But what are the arts therapies, and what do they offer clients? This fully updated new edition of The Arts Therapies provides, in one volume, a guide to the different disciplines and their current practice and thinking in different parts of the world. Each chapter draws on a variety of perspectives and accounts to develop understandings of the relations between theory, research and practice, offering perspectives on areas such as the client-therapist-art form relationship or on outcomes and efficacy to help articulate and understand what the arts therapies can offer specific client groups. This new edition features ‘Focus on Research’ highlights from music therapy, art therapy, dramatherapy and dance movement therapy, which offer interviews with researchers in China, Africa, South America, Australia, Europe and North America, exploring significant pieces of enquiry undertaken within recent years. This comprehensive overview will be an essential text for students and practitioners of the arts therapies. It is international in scope, fully up-to-date with innovations in the field and will be relevant to new practitioners and those looking to deepen their understanding.