Attachment Informed Art Therapy: Strengthening Emotional Ties Throughout the Lifetime

Copyright

Attachment Informed Art Therapy

Copyright © 2017 by Lucille Proulx

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-1-77302-904-7 (Hardcover)

978-1-77302-905-4 (Paperback)

978-1-77302-903-0 (eBook)

Art work by Lucille Proulx on the following pages: cover – La Famille; p. 8 – The Eternal Mother; p. 17 – Attaching; p. 28 – First Attachment; p. 58 – Nursing Mother.

Art work by Cheryl-Ann Webster: p. 225 – Fabric of Life; p. 228 – Loss.

p. 4 – Dr. E. Freud’s Letter, page 1

p. 5 – Dr. E. Freud’s Letter, page 2

Photos – Lucille Proulx’s children & grandchildren from the Family Album:

p. 13 – Attuned – Matthew & Ali;

p. 15 – Adapting – Lauren;

p. 60 – Fathering – Steven & Ivy;

p. 62 – Mother as Container – Matthew & Helen;

p. 65 – Secure Base Exploration – Austin;

p. 79 – Playing with Goop – Xavier & Alex;

p. 84 – Next Move – Ali & Vicki;

p. 189 – Grandfathering – Mike with Loralai, Jesse, Derek & Brendan;

p. 191 – Four Generations – Lucille, Lucille (daughter), Alison & Austin;

p. 191 – First Painting Lesson – Lucille & Jasmine;

Back cover – Author, Lucille Proulx.

Dedication

I wish to dedicate this book to

My family,

My French Canadian ancestors

and

My Métis grandfather of the Quebec Innu (Montagnais) First Nations,

from whom I have inherited my great love of people.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CONTRIBUTORS

PREFACE

CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH ON STRENGTHENING EMOTIONAL TIES THROUGH PARENT-CHILD-DYAD ART THERAPY AND THE ATTACHMENT FRAMEWORK

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ATTACHMENT INFORMED ART THERAPY

PART ONE

EARLY LIFETIME

CHAPTER 2

THE 3 ‘A’S OF ATTACHMENT INFORMED ART THERAPY

ATTUNEMENT

ADAPTATION

ATTACHMENT

Strange Situation Research Categories

The Crowell Procedure

The Parental Internal Working Model Assessment

Neurological Activities

Intersubjectivity

CHAPTER 3

PARENT-CHILD-DYAD ART THERAPY

THE UNBORN CHILD

THE CHILD IN ART THERAPY

The Infant

The Preschool Child

Functional Emotional Development

The School Age Child

Attachment In School-Age Twin Children

IDENTIFYING ATTACHMENT BY RESEARCHING SELF-CONCEPT MIRRORED IN THE ART OF TWINS

CHAPTER 4

ADOPTED AND FOSTERED CHILDREN IN ART THERAPY

Art Therapy Attachment Metaphors with an Adopted Child

Art Therapy With Children In Foster Care

Five Therapeutic Tasks According to Bowlby (1988)

Reactive Attachment Disorder

Tracing Hands and Drawing Intervention

The Pretend Aquarium Intervention

Additional Functional Emotional Stages For Older Children

PART TWO

MIDDLE LIFETIME

CHAPTER 5

ATTACHMENT IN ADOLESCENCE

Functional Emotional Stages for Adolescents

ART THERAPY INTERVENTIONS WITH ADOLESCENTS

Art Therapy Without Verbal Communication: A Case Presentation

Suicide and Adolescence

CHAPTER 6

ADULT ATTACHMENTS

Adult Attachment Interview (AAI)

Adult Art Therapy Can Be Playful

The Symbolism of the Page

Schema of Grunwald (Bolander, 1977)

Functional Emotional Stages of Development in Adulthood

SAME-SEX ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT

Queer Relationship Attachment

ATTACHMENT AND DIVORCE

A Group for Divorced Mothers

CHAPTER 7

BECOMING A GRANDPARENT

CHAPTER 8

ATTACHMENT AND GROWING OLD

Existential Question: Can I Make My Life Count?

PART THREE

END OF LIFETIME

CHAPTER 9

ATTACHMENT AND OLD AGE

CHAPTER 10

DEMENTIA AND ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Dementia

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

CHAPTER 11

PALLIATIVE CARE

Children In Palliative Care

Impending Loss and Mother Strategies

Adults In Palliative Care

CHAPTER 12

ATTACHMENT IN DYING AND BEREAVEMENT

DYING

LOSS AND BEREAVEMENT

The Role of Art Therapy in the Grieving Process

CONCLUSION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

REFERENCES

SUBJECT INDEX

TABLE OF IMAGES

A Child’s Two-Handed Scribble Drawing

Verworm’s Diagram of the Brain

Dr. E. Freud’s Letter, page 1

Dr. E. Freud’s Letter, page 2

The Eternal Mother

Attuned

Adapting

Attaching

First Attachment

Visualizing the Babies

Visualizing the Babies Comforting Each Other

Dream Catcher

Ambivalence

Blue Angel

Two Little Fish in the Womb

Guilt

Rage and Chaos

Fear

Trapped, immobile, frozen

Resignation

Something that has not changed within me, that was not affected by all this

Kiara’s Mandala

Holding Hands

Body Tracing

Body Mapping Completed

Nursing Mother

Fathering

Mother as Container

Secure Base Exploration

Playing with Goop

Next Move

Nataly Created Connections to her Foster Mother

Amy used her Imagination to Humanize the Hand

Twin Fishing

Like Mother Like Daughter

Kite

Pig Blood

Naomi’s Two-Hand Drawing with Foster Mom

Rob’s Two-Hand Drawing with Mom

Nick’s Session with Mom

Sami’s First Session Drawing with Biological Mom

First Paint in Blue Background. Then Glue in Sand and Shells

Open Side Covered with Clear Plastic

Depression

Printmaking on Goop

Japanese Culture

Emojis on Board

Emoji on Self

Button-o-Gram 1

Button-o-Gram 2

Collage Mandalas

Wanting to Return Home

Wish Dolls

Shield making

Isan Landscape 1

Isan Landscape 2

Isan Landscape 3

Isan Landscape 4

Body Tracing

White on Black

Stream with Fish

Five Fish

Humour

School

Isan Barbie

Bed with 5 Pillows

Bed with Roof

Sketch

Monkey Face

Lifeline

Family

Shocked

Angry

Sad

Volcano

Clay Worry

Supports and Strengths

Clay Heads

Clay Family Sculptures

Create a Thai Village

Mandala Strength

Create a Community

Ritual Mandalas

Gingerbread House 1

Gingerbread House 2

Grunwald Schema

Woman

Abstract Work

The House

Circles and Scribbles

Grandfathering

Generational Creativity

Welcome Ms. Lucille

The Magazine

The Copy

The Template

Wrap Dolls

The Boy

Pride

A Knife Soaked in Blood

Falling Tower

Picnic Near the Lotus Pond

Transformation Butterfly

Faites Vous Une Belle Journee

Fabric of Life

Loss

CiiAT Flyer

Lucille Proulx

MA, ATR, RCAT, HLM

FOREWORD

By

Michelle Winkel

Art therapists understand the magic of imagery. Most art therapists enter the field with a profound understanding of the transformative potential of the art-making process with clients, usually because we are artists first and therapists second. We are compelled by the art media and images, and the stories we create from our own experience.

In art therapy the transformative process occurs in the context of the relationship between client and art therapist, with the imagery guiding the way.

Lucille Proulx’s first book, Strengthening Emotional Ties, became a how to bible for me when I was working with infants and their families in Placer County, California in the late 1990s, long before I met her. On my team of speech therapists, physical therapists, occupation therapists and pediatricians, I worked specifically with the infants and toddlers who had trouble with eating, sleeping, and emotional attachment to their caregivers. While I had wisdom and expertise around me regarding infant mental health interventions, no one other than Lucille had written specifically about using art therapy for these cases, which involved work with dyads and families.

What is remarkable about Proulx’s style is the dance she co-creates between the imagery, the clients and herself. Lucille is remarkably skilled in negotiating this dance when working with dyads, families and couples. Often it is not an easy dance. This book can help therapists and others generate new ways of building strong relationships in families and with clients.

I am thrilled that Lucille has written this sequel, which explores attachment throughout the lifespan. I expect it will become another how to guide for many clinicians

Michelle Winkel, MA, MFT, ATR, REAT

May 4, 2017

Vice-President, Canadian Art Therapy Association

Director, Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Tao of Pooh

"How can you get very far,

If you don’t know who you are?

How can you do what you ought,

If you don’t know what you’ve got?

And if you don’t know which to do

Of all the things in front of you,

Then what you’ll have when you are through

Is just a mess without a clue

Of all the best that can come true

If you know What and Which and Who."

– Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

(Hoff, 1982, p. 58 )

I wish to thank my children who define me as a mother, grandmother and great grandmother and as a creator of a loving, beautiful and intelligent family working at many occupations in many fields, in several parts of Canada and the world.

My thanks to all the Art Therapy Instructors at Concordia University, and the psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health professionals at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, especially Dr. Joyce Canfield, Dr. Lee Tidmarsh and Dr. Klaus Minde who contributed toward my finding out who I am as a professional.

I would also like to honour my friend, psychologist Dr. Sandra Wieland, who has recently departed, for her insights and her training in working with traumatized children with insecure attachments.

Without all of you I might not have had a clue of my what, which and who that spirited me to discover the wonders of Asia. I also wish to thank the many colleagues who made it possible for me to continue my attachment research abroad, and to spread and sow my enthusiasm. In Thailand, I give thanks to CUSO for giving me the opportunity to continue my attachment work in other cultures; to CPCR Director, Dr. Sanprasit Kumprapan, for opening a window on attachment in Thai culture; and to my friends and colleagues who shared with me their pregnancies and parenthood, and brought me into their homes as a grand mother.

Thank you to my Art Therapy colleagues who contributed to this current book by sharing their stories verbally or sending me vignettes and case studies (see list of contributors). Your contributions have added to the value of this book, and have increased the reader’s knowledge of the various ways of working with art therapeutic materials.

I wish to extend my appreciation to all of my students in Canada, UK, Israel, South Africa, UAE, Egypt, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo, Cambodia, Bangkok, The Philippines and Vietnam, for giving me glimpses of your personal attachments through your art.

I would also like to give thanks to my editors: to Joan Stewart, who has been diligently engaged with the book over many years since its inception, and her wonderful and insightful collaboration in making this a readable document; to art therapist and colleague Kim Cooney, who reviewed the text for clinical comprehension; and to Cheryl-Ann Webster, who helped with professional decisions on the placement of images in the text and, with her skills and magical touch, made them all fit the publisher’s requirements. And last but not least, I wish to thank my colleague Michelle Winkel who has encouraged and supported me throughout this project.

My appreciation goes to Jessica Kingsley Publishers, who published my first book, Strengthening Emotional Ties through Parent-Child-Dyad Art Therapy. And finally, my thanks to the staff at Tellwell Talent who made possible the publication of this current book. You have been a pleasure to work with.

CONTRIBUTORS

(in alphabetical order)

Christel Bodenbender

Christel Bodenbender is a writer and art therapist living in Vancouver, BC. She has been creating stories since childhood, but it wasn’t until her art therapy training that she rekindled her passion for penning narratives. Her work has been published in several magazines. Apart from spinning tales, Christel likes to help people, which drew her to art therapy and her current job in IT support. She also serves as President of the Board of the Proulx Global Education and Community Foundation.

Nancy Currie

Since 1997, Nancy has worked as an Art Therapist to decode traumatic events with children, adolescents and adults in schools, shelters, group homes and foster care.

In 2000, she designed and coordinated an Art Therapy program in Ottawa’s Aboriginal community. Funded by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, the project was designed to help overcome the inter-generational effects of residential schooling and increase healing within the family. Nancy works mainly from a Psychodynamic Attachment based approach. She is currently in private practice, works with women and children in the shelter system, and makes stuff with her two grandsons.

Linda McLagan

Linda is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor General’s Award for outstanding academic achievement. She is a founding member of the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy and of the Counselling Center for Immigrants and Refugees. Linda has traveled, as both a trainer and advocate for refugee mental health, to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Aman and Gaza City in Palestine. She continues to work tirelessly in Victoria, BC toward the mental health and emotional well-being of all newcomers to Canada with a vision of creating an integrated and pluralistic society.

Sangusanee Nawamarat

Sangusanee (Cherry) believes that creative process as the process of art making is a safe containment for human emotions. Cherry studied Fine Art Printmaking at Loughborough University School of Art and Design in Leicestershire, UK. She completed her post-graduate Foundation Certificate in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a Certificate in the Therapeutic and Educational Application of the Arts at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education, London, UK. She graduated from the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy program in Thailand (IPATT) with a Post-graduate Diploma in Clinical Art Therapy. Her clinical practise includes work with terminally ill children, palliative care and dementia patients. She is a pioneer of art therapy in Bangkok.

Fiona Peterson

Fiona Petersen obtained her Master’s degree in Art therapy, as well as Bachelor degrees in both Social Work and in Fine Arts in Montreal, Quebec. She worked several years at a shelter for women and children victims of conjugal violence. She set up an art therapy based program at Ste-Justine University Hospital for women with high-risk pregnancies, and worked in perinatal psychiatry with depressed and anxious mothers.

She presently practices art therapy on a multi-disciplinary mental health team with youth and their families at a community health and social service center in Montreal.

Gerri Ann Riehl-Bandur

In 2009 Gerri graduated from the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute as an Art Therapist, and received a Master of Arts - Integrated Studies (MA-IS) Degree through Athabasca University in 2013. She also has a Master’s level in Usui Reiki. Her goal is to combine these two healing practices to help others along their wellness journey. She has a personal art practice and business, Art and Soul Art Therapy Services, in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

Jelica Shaw

After years of travelling the world, Jelica completed a Bachelor of Arts at Simon Fraser University. She went on to pursue her academic dream of combining art, history and psychology at the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute in Vancouver, BC. She received a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Art Therapy upon completion of her thesis entitled, Art Therapy: An Intervention for At-Risk Aboriginal Youth. Her commitment to youth and Aboriginal issues brought her to work at Richmond Youth Service Agency in 2008 as an Aboriginal Coordinator for Pathways Aboriginal Centre; at Pathways Aboriginal Outreach Education Program as a Child, Youth and Family Worker; and at the Aboriginal Youth Centre as a Program Coordinator.

Lucia Simoncicova

Lucia is a qualified Art Therapist (MA in Psychotherapy, MA in Art Therapy, CIT, Cork, Ireland), and Professional Member of the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA). She is an Attachment-Informed Therapist. In her private practice she has been specializing in Child and Adolescent Therapy with a focus on grief and loss, trauma and attachment difficulties. She presented a lecture at a Canadian Art Therapy Association Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2015) and organized, with the Canadian Art Therapist Monica Carpendale, an Art Therapy Conference on Grief and Loss in Cork, Ireland (2016).

Sayjai Sriline

Sayjai received her Fine Arts B.A. at Nakhonratchasima Rajabhat University in Thailand. She is an artist and an art therapist who works with children, adolescents and adults. She has worked with traumatized children at the Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights (CPCR) in Bangkok, Thailand for over 16 years. She is a graduate of the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy and was trained at The International Program of Art Therapy in Thailand.

Patcharin Sughondhabirom

Patcharin Sughondhabirom (Dr. Jo) is a medical doctor and registered art therapist living in Bangkok, Thailand. Her passion in arts, combined with her deep interest in the death and dying process, have drawn her into the field of palliative care. In 2005, she started an open art studio project in Bangkok for children with cancer in the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. The project was well received, and was later expanded to The Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health. This project has ignited creative ideas and initiations in other pediatric units in the country. Dr. Jo is Director of the International Program of Art Therapy in Thailand (IPATT), which she developed in 2011 in collaboration with Lucille Proulx, bringing formal clinical art therapy training into Thailand. In 2014, she also founded the Art Therapy Foundation to support art therapy projects in the country.

Karen Wallace

Karen Wallace is an Art Therapist, artist, art instructor, educator, author and a Certified Focusing Professional (Trainer). Karen lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada where she has a private practice with adults and children specializing in trauma work. She teaches Art Education at the University of Regina and Art Therapy at WHEAT (The Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy Institute). Karen is the author of the book, There Is No Need to Talk About This: Poetic Inquiry from the Art Therapy Studio. She has just recently finished writing another book entitled, Everyday Art Therapy.

Tzafi Weinberg

Tzafi Weinberg is an art therapist with many years of experience in guiding with The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and working with children and art in Canada. She studied art therapy at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute in BC. She is currently a Doctoral student at Mount Mary University, Milwaukee. Her research topic deals with dyadic art therapy with indigenous foster children and foster parents. Since 2011, Tzafi has worked with First Nations children in a private practice in Winnipeg.

Esther Zeller

Esther is a Registered Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario with a private practice in Toronto,