Henley (1991,1992) has developed an object relations approach in his work with children with developmental, emotional, and other disabilities. He notes that individu-als with developmental disabilities, including autism and mental retardation, and those with physical disabilities such as deafness or blindness, may lack a sense of self and may experience difficulties in relating to others. These individuals are well suited to an ob-ject relations approach because early attachments may be impaired or not fully devel-oped. Because object relations plots a developmental sequences of maturation and at-tachment to objects, it complements the art process encourages sensory stimulation, object formation, and interaction with both therapist and the art product.
Art adds a dimension to therapist–client interactions because it creates a setting in which individuation and separation can be witnessed, practiced, and mastered through creative experimentation and exploration. By its very nature, offering art materials is often perceived as a form of nurturing by providing the opportunity for creative expression, encouraging attachment to the therapist.
CONCEPTS INFLUENCING AN OBJECT RELATIONS APPROACH TO ART THERAPY
Transitional Space and Transitional Objects
Two concepts in object relations theory that are of particular interest to art therapy are Winnicott’s (1953) concepts of “transitional space” and “transitional objects.”
Transitional space is an intermediate area of experience where there is no clear dis-tinction between inner and outer reality. Art making and play activity are considered transitional spaces because they are ways that children bridge subjective and objec-tive realities and practice attachment and relationship to the world around them. The art process, including the presence of the therapist who facilitates and guides creative expression, is considered to be somewhat of a holding environment within which object relations can emerge and develop.
The term “transitional object” has been used by Winnicott to describe an actual object, such as a blanket or stuffed toy, that is important to the child because it repre-sents something beyond what it actually is. Art products can become transitional ob-jects which may become imbued with meaning beyond what they are in reality. For example, a drawing or painting made by a child who is dependent on the therapist for support may become a transitional object in the absence of the therapist, defusing separation anxiety. In a similar vein, an adult may make a clay figure of a parent who abandoned her as a child, symbolically evoking that person and the unresolved trau-ma of separation. Henley (1992) notes that the art product functions as a transitional object because it supports self-relationship and empowerment and encourages connection with the therapist who facilitates the creative expression.
relationship with the therapist. Mahler (1968; Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975), Winnicott (1965), and others believed that successful attachments between mother and infant influenced relationships throughout life. Mahler et al. (1975) outlined stages leading to separation and individuation that have been used in art therapy with an object relations approach. She developed theories that placed importance on the making attachment between mother and child. Each stage has different character-istics and developmental tasks that must be accomplished. The first stage, “normal autism,” is a blissful existence that begins when the child is in utero and continues until shortly after birth. Mahler calls the subsequent stage of bonding “symbiosis,” a time during which the child bonds with the mother and cannot conceive of being a separate entity. At approximately 5 to 6 months of age the child begins to develop a sense of self-awareness and differentiation, which Mahler called the “hatching stage.” It is shortly after this stage that the child begins to practice “separation/indi-viduation” from the mother. Finally, “object constancy” occurs around age 3, when others, including mother, are seen as more fully separate from the self.
Mahler’s stages have been used as a framework for understanding clients’ work in art therapy where art making is seen as mirroring and facilitating interpersonal communication and potential difficulties with object relations. For example, Henley (1992) shares the following brief case example of a young man with Down syndrome who had a profoundly enmeshed relationship with his mother and sister: “his figura-tive imagery was consistently in the state of merging. One of his pictures depicted the two figures literally tied in a symbiotic union, with each face mirroring each other.
Throughout this young man’s art therapy program, focus was on facilitating separa-tion and building self-concept and a sense of empowerment that was not so depend-ent upon the females in his family” (p. 234). Object relations theory was used by Henley to provide a structure for assessing the child’s relationships to significant oth-ers and establishing a treatment plan with the goal of resolving attachment problems and encouraging autonomy.
In his work with adults, Robbins (2001) sums up an art therapy approach to ob-ject relations, noting that the therapist must use the art process to communicate: “I am with you, will help you and teach you, but I am also separate and must promote in you, regardless of your pleasure or pain, your own independence and autonomy”
(p. 64). This statement underscores that object relations theory is a helpful construct in organizing art therapy and understanding the client’s presenting problems with early attachments in mind. The images created in therapy reflect past relationships while interactions between therapist and client support and enhance the process of individuation.
CONCLUSION
The advent of psychoanalysis early in the 20th century provided a natural catalyst for the emergence of the idea of art therapy and offered a conceptual framework complementary to the potential of art expression in psychotherapy. Equally, Jung’s belief in the inherent healing power of images and art making fueled the analytic ap-Psychoanalytic, Analytic, and Object Relations Approaches 55
proach to art therapy and techniques such as amplification and active imagination, providing ways to work with and understand images created in therapy. Object rela-tions, a more contemporary development of psychoanalytic theory, has provided a way of thinking about client’s responses in art therapy, reflecting early attachments and current relationship issues. Although most contemporary practitioners do not take a strictly psychoanalytic, analytic, or object relations approach to art therapy, elements of these philosophies are present in many contemporary art therapy ap-proaches to treatment. Together, these theories have formed the bedrock for the subsequent development and advances of art therapy as a method of client communication and therapeutic change.
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