Individual Art Therapy with Two Women

This is a two-part film that demonstrates two approaches to working with women who struggle with depression and interpersonal relationships.

The first part involves art therapist Pierre Boenig and his client Carolyn. Through watching their art therapy session, we witness the client’s difficulty of expressing emotion through words. The process of the art-making is focused on how to externalize and express emotions that are trapped inside the body. Here, the idea of creation and expression as well as the polarized aspects of her inner and outer reality are illustrated through the difficult play between the inner and outer space of her image. Art therapist Boenig demonstrates a sensitive and attuned presence, using gesture as well as language to help his patient find her own images, as well as the meanings they embody in her life experience. Both client and therapist discuss their work together.

In the section part, Dr. Arthur Robbins assumes a more interactional and relational approach, where the art process becomes part of an interplay between the therapist, image and client, Susan.  The idea of the internalized mother is experienced in the here and now through imagery and within the body. The client struggles to contain her emotions and illustrates a superficial boundary that is then seen as distorted through her ability to mirror the images with her body. The co-created environment then becomes an interesting holding space, where the client can start to repair the disruptions in her early object relations.

Total Running Time: 1 hour, 11 minutes, 47 seconds