Single-Session Art Therapy as Mind-Body Medicine: A Systematic Review of Treating Emotional Crisis in Time-Limited Psychotherapy

• Author / Creator

  Gelink, Lorian Nicole

• This research study presented and elaborated on the published materials, in recognized search aggregators, OVID and EBSCO, regarding the topic of emotional crisis in brief and short-term psychotherapy, single-session therapy, and art therapy literature. An emotional crisis is an unexpected and sudden moment when someone experiences a temporary loss of mind-body connectivity as a measure to ensure immediate survival, which is threatened by an unresolved and repressed psychological conflict reactivating in their psychosocial environment. A research synthesis was conducted to systematically generate a list of the published content. The researcher evaluated, deconstructed, and analyzed the findings to present a general overview; then composed single-session art therapy, a mind-body treatment modality with a spiritual perspective, that places individuals as the focus of the clinical encounter. Although most of the published content was outdated and primarily focused on describing and detailing the clinical event of an emotional crisis, the researcher consequently provided a contemporary, in-depth account with influential psychotherapeutic, theological, and medical concepts. The result is a single-session art therapy modality that can restore a person's embodied connection, which leads to an adaptive and authentic resolution of a repressed psychological conflict. Future research will further study how art therapy encourages and facilitates an individual's creative abilities and potential to resolve psychological conflicts, and prevent future, similar emotional crises from occurring.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Imagination
  • Single-session Therapy
  • Mind-body Therapy
  • Brief Psychotherapy
  • Time-limited Psychotherapy
  • Poiesis
  • Art Therapy
  • Spiritual Development
  • Short-term Psychotherapy
  • Stress
  • Emotional Crisis
  • Self
  • Creative Process

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Psychotherapy and Spirituality

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-a7s3-f814

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.