From the author: The use of Art methods in Gestalt therapy I. Art therapy as a method. Art therapy is the softest method of working, contacting difficult problems. The main goals of art therapy - self-expression, expansion of personal experience, self-knowledge, internal integration of personality (its various aspects and components) and integration with external reality (social, ethnic, cultural). An important concept of art therapy is sublimation - the expression of unconscious instincts and drives (sometimes destructive) by transforming them into works of art; art can simultaneously “direct in a different direction” and also express feelings of anger, pain, anxiety, fear. The advantages of the art therapy method are that it: 1) provides an opportunity to express aggressive feelings in a socially acceptable manner. Drawing, painting or sculpting are safe ways to relieve tension; 2) accelerates progress in therapy. Subconscious conflicts and internal experiences are more easily expressed through visual images than through conversation during verbal psychotherapy. Nonverbal forms of communication may be more likely to escape conscious censorship; 3) provides a basis for interpretation and diagnostic work during therapy. Creative production, due to its reality, cannot be denied by the patient. The content and style of the artwork provides the therapist with a wealth of information, in addition, the author himself can contribute to the interpretation of his own creations; 4) allows him to work with thoughts and feelings that seem insurmountable (loss, death, trauma and violence, fears, internal conflicts , childhood memories, dreams). Sometimes non-verbal means are the only tool that reveals and clarifies intense feelings and beliefs; 5) helps strengthen the therapeutic relationship. Elements of coincidence in the artistic creativity of group members can accelerate the development of empathy and positive feelings; 6) promotes a sense of internal control and order; 7) develops and enhances attention to feelings; 8) enhances the sense of one’s own personal value and increases artistic competence. A by-product of art therapy is the satisfaction that arises as a result of identifying hidden skills and their development. The goals are achieved: - expression of emotions and feelings associated with the experiences of one’s problems, oneself; - active search for new forms of interaction with the world; - confirmation of one’s individuality, uniqueness and significance; - and, as a consequence of the previous three, - increasing adaptability in an ever-changing world (flexibility). * * * * *In art therapy there are 2 approaches: 1. This is only a “drawing” (by “drawing” we mean not only the drawing itself, but also modeling, metaphor, fairy tale, dance, etc.). In this case, the process itself is therapeutic; therapy occurs during the process of creating a “drawing”. The idea is “art in itself is therapeutic.” Interpretation after creating the “drawing”, since “art is not enough for therapy, a word is needed for awareness.” From my point of view, both approaches have the right to exist, since both have a rational grain. Sometimes, indeed, the very process of creating a “drawing - figure” is enough, and the therapy process occurs precisely during creation, and then together With the completion of work on the “drawing” we also receive awareness – the result. But there are also other options: the client creates a “drawing”, but no awareness occurs during creation. And then interpretation is clearly necessary. Thus, we can conclude that in therapy it is necessary to use both approaches depending on the situation.II. Art therapy and contact cycle.1. Pre-contact Tasks: Establish safety Establish figure and background Find out what gives rise to the problem Support bodily processes The phase, or stage, of pre-contact is one of the most favorable for the use of art methods,since very often the client either cannot formulate a request, or he does not have enough resources to contact the therapist, his problem. In this case, it is appropriate to use the following art methods that allow you to establish security, establish figure and background, identify the problem, save, and sometimes create a client resource for further work: “Drawing”. Offer to draw your mood to create “color harmony” - you can use 2-3 colors (white is also a color), choosing colors so that they convey some mood, feeling, sense of peace, joy, etc. (based on the client’s state of mind) draw yourself today the way the client sees and feels himself (the client must be told that it is not necessary to draw a person, it can be any object, thing, plant, animal, natural phenomenon - anything that whatever) if the client’s resource is very small, then you can ask him to draw himself with scribbles, any strokes. You can ask him to do the same using plasticine - sculpt himself, his mood “Conversation-story” - offer the client from several pictures (photos, Tarot cards and etc.) choose those that he likes (or doesn’t like), consider them, tell the therapist about them - “What is here about you and what is not” talk about your favorite place in nature: where you like it, where you don’t like it tell about favorite movie, favorite book talk about any character from a movie or book choose any object, toy, figurine (you can choose from the point of view of “like”, “similar to me”, “not at all like me”, “causes any other feelings” etc.) metaphor to convey your state with a quote from a song or poem “Working with the body” the least energy-intensive option is working with the client’s posture (in what position is he sitting? What animal or plant does it look like?) ask the client to make the net more comfortable and slowly, starting from the head, feel and track all the inconveniences, tightness, pain, uncomfortable condition in various parts of the body, accompanying this process with a story about where the discomfort is felt. Then the client needs to identify these uncomfortable sensations with the words “what is he doing? – presses, stabs, cuts, squeezes, hits……….etc.” the next stage of work in this exercise can already be considered transitional from pre-contact to contact. The therapist asks the client to focus on discomfort in any part of the body and three times very slowly say the following phrase “I...press myself (hit, cut, stab, pull...) and that’s how I live.” While pronouncing this phrase, the client must track which episodes, incidents from his life are remembered, what pictures appear when he pronounces these words. Next, the therapist works with the named images-pictures-episodes. Exercises for working with the body can be found in the book by Romanenko O.K. Practical Gestalt therapy. M.: Folium, 1995, 112 p.2. Contact. In art therapy there are also many techniques (methods) that accompany the process of contact. They can be used when a person is not ready to contact the problem directly, directly. Fantasies. The purposes of using fantasy: contact with unacceptable events, feelings, personal qualities (in the process there is some liberation from negative feelings; although this is a fantasy, the feelings are real, therefore, you can already work with them) contact with an absent person contact with an unfinished situation exploration of the unknown (exacerbation of basic needs, preparation for meeting the unknown, for gaining new experience) exploration of new or unfamiliar aspects of oneself Fantasy should be worked in two stages: transfer the dream-fantasy to real ground - “What is this about you? What is this about for you?” keep in mind that ALL elements of fantasy are pieces of the Self. Work with each piece. Rosebush. “What kind of rosebush are you? Are you very small? You are big? Are you curvy? You are tall? Are you wearing flowers? If so, which ones? (They don't have to be roses.) What color are your flowers? Do you have a lot of them or just a few? Have your flowers fully bloomed or have youonly buds? Do you have leaves? What are they? What do your stem and branches look like? What do your roots look like?.. Or maybe you don’t have them? If so, are they long and straight or curvy? Are they deep? Do you have thorns? Where are you? In the courtyard? In the park? In a desert? In the city? In the country? In the middle of the ocean? Are you in some kind of vessel, or growing in the ground, or making your way through the asphalt? Are you outside or inside something? What surrounds you? Are there other flowers there or are you alone? Are there trees there? Animals? People? Birds? Is there anything like a hedge around you? If so, what does it look like? Or are you in the open? What is it like to be a rosebush? How do you maintain your existence? Is anyone looking after you? What is the weather like now: favorable or not? This technique allows the client to see and realize his problem, to get in touch with it. From my own experience: when I drew a Rose Bush, as a result I ended up with 2 drawings. In the first one, a rose bush was blooming in a large flower bed in front of the cinema, there were a lot of people around, the rose bush was surrounded by many small plants. The more carefully I drew the details, the more I “populated” my drawing, the more discomfort I experienced. And in the end I realized that this was the Bush of my former life. And that I no longer want to live the way I lived. So I drew another bush. In this picture, the Bush lived in a large beautiful flower pot in a room on a table not far from the wide open window, which had light transparent curtains. There were no more flowers in the room. Next to the pot stood a beautiful jug of water. It became clear to me that I wanted to “live” in my bright room. And so that there is someone nearby who will take care of me, look after me. Thus, the basic need was identified and formulated. It was already possible to work with this further. Problematizing fantasies. There are quite a lot of them. Here are the names of some of them: “Wise Elder”, “Chinese Temple”. They are based on the need to formulate a problem and ask a question. These techniques are described in the book by G. Schottenloher - “Drawing and Image in Gestalt Therapy.” Here is one of them. The old sage. “You are walking along the road... You see a hut in the distance. You come closer and recognize the old sage sitting on the porch. You want to get a better look at him. .. He greets you with a long look. You look into his eyes and understand that you can ask him a question, and the sage will answer you. You think about what important things you should ask him about…. You ask him a question. He looks at you and goes into the hut. You wait tensely. The old man returns with a gift for you. Does he add anything to it? If he doesn't say anything, you know the gift is the answer. You take it, say goodbye and leave.” Next, the client is asked to tell about what he saw in detail. What gift did you receive? Did the sage say something to him? What did the sage look like? What did the hut look like? Etc. Symbolic projections. Methodology of symbolic projections. There are twelve of them. Meadow - state of mental health (what is happening to me today). Mountain - upward movement - level of achievements; upward visualization (no movement) – I am among people; features of the process of moving upward - how I move through life. Stream - depth, width, type of stream - libido energy, vital energy - corresponds to the depth, breadth of views, human activity (the flow of inner life.) House - a symbol of the Self, internal content. Name - imaginary personality - those qualities that I want to have in myself Animals in the meadow - unconscious affective relationships symbolized by the sight of an animal; relationship with parents Car - unconscious attitude towards sexuality. Swamp - what is suppressed (is there fear in relation to what is seen). Cave (tree) - tree - this is a feeling of security, protection. Cave - suppressed or undeveloped parts of the Self (what I personally suppress in myself). Volcano - the strength of a volcanic eruption - the degree of ease of tension release, release, release.