Art Therapy in a Learning Disability Setting: Subjectivity and Institutional Life

This book originates from the experience of providing art therapy for adults diagnosed with learning disabilities living in an institutional setting. It follows two longitudinal case studies in an attempt to understand dyadic relations in art therapy.

Representing an important contribution to the history of art therapy, especially as it relates to the history of learning disabilities, this book explores past and contemporary discourses and contexts to identify a meaningful, thoughtful approach to the making and reading of images and the client/therapist relationship. It presents the thinking that informed the author's practice at the time, from both the point of view of the time and its present moment, to contextualize contemporary art therapy practice. Through the storytelling of long-term art therapy cases with thoughtful investigation the author explores themes of melancholia, abjection, and alienation, while also creating a depth to current practice. The chapters are richly illustrated, the two case studies are personal and compelling, and the writing is accessible to all readers.

The book will appeal to practicing and training therapists of all persuasions, but especially those in art therapy or learning disability fields that have an interest in the visual forms of imagining and communicating.