Handout from Art in Mental Health workshop October 2009

Dent-Brown, ! "200#$! %tor& as therapeutic tool' (he %i)-*art %tor& Method! +onte)t, ,,, 22-2-!
http'..www!dent-brown!co!uk./psmarticle!htm
0n the last centur& one of the followers of +!1! 1un2 be2an to look closel& at the m&ths and fair&tales of the 3estern canon! 0n the anal&tical ps&cholo2& tradition of the collecti4e unconscious, Marie 5ouise 4on 6ran7 "#99/$ hoped that for a culture, stories mi2ht ser4e the same purpose as dreams do for an indi4idual! 0nterested in the fundamental structure of dreams and stories, she anal&sed both not for content but for underl&in2 form! %he found si) archet&pal buildin2 blocks at the heart of stories, and h&pothesised that indi4iduals8 dreams mi2ht be anal&sed in the same wa&! All 4er& interestin2 for middle class self-impro4ers with 92,0 to spend on findin2 their 0nner Hero at a weekend workshop! But is this of an& use to an inner cit& communit& mental health team workin2 with clients abused in childhood, burdened b& depri4ation and labelled 8personalit& disordered and untreatable8: +onsider this stor&, written b& such a client' ;Once upon a time there was a spaceman, marooned on an asteroid! His task was to sur4i4e, to 2et throu2h each da& without d&in2! (he thin2s that would be a problem are that there are monsters with hooked claws abo4e the asteroid< if he 2ets off it the& will tear him up! Also, his space suit means he cannot eat the fruit on the trees! 3hat helps is that he finds some rocks which he can strike to2ether and the& make flame and smoke so he can attract a passin2 spaceship! Also he has a tube throu2h which he can at least suck up water! 3hat happens is that he sees a fl&in2 saucer in the distance, makes his smoke and fire and to his surprise the saucer sees him and comes to the asteroid! He boards the saucer and at first is 2lad to be rescued! %oon thou2h the aliens on the saucer be2in to wonder about him< was he marooned because of a disaster, and has he brou2ht bad luck with him: Or was he marooned as a punishment for some crime and does he now threaten the crew: He too starts to worr& that the& will cast him out into space! 0n the end the crew find another asteroid and maroon him on it - he is relie4ed to still be ali4e!;

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Handout from Art in Mental Health workshop October 2009

(he client made this stor& for me followin2 the /-*art %tor& Method "/*%M$ de4eloped b& two 0sraeli therapists, Ofra A&alon and Mooli 5ahad "5ahad, #992$! (he& took the si) elements identified b& 4on 6ran7 and re4ersed the anal&tic process, usin2 the elements as a skeleton around which the client can s&nthesise their own new, fictional stor&! (he elements ma& be apparent abo4e, but for clarit& the& are' Main character and settin2 (ask Obstructin2 factors Helpful factors Main action or turnin2 point +onse=uences of main action

(he method was first used in 0srael in therapeutic work with children, then with whole communities under threat of shellin2 and other attack! >ow it is used in a 4ariet& of settin2s, from nurse education and trainin2 to a paediatric cancer ward where the medical and nursin2 team use it as a ke& wa& of communicatin2 with the children in their care! (o return to the client8s stor& abo4e, what mi2ht he ha4e been tr&in2 to communicate to me: *erhaps a sense of isolation and e)ile, both hopin2 for and fearin2 closer contact with others! Ma&be a feelin2 that life is a succession of approach-retreat patterns, c&clin2 continuousl& without e4er approachin2 real intimac&! Ma&be a re=uest that 0 notice his far-off si2nals and alter course towards him! +oupled with a warnin2 that 0 mi2ht find him threatenin2 if 0 did! *erhaps a statement of his spartan resol4e to sur4i4e, e4en thou2h the 2ood thin2s in life are tantalisin2l& out of reach! (his was a client who came with =uite a reputation and who initiall& it felt hard to make a rapport with! He had had a life of 4iolence on the ed2es of the law, followin2 his earl& dischar2e from the Arm&! He had ?oined up at #,, escapin2 a famil& settin2 where he was either i2nored or abused! His self-harm ran2ed from the banal 85o4e8 and 8Hate8 tattooed on his fin2ers to secret 2ou2in2 of his arms and le2s! He was tall, dominatin2 the waitin2 room with his badl& sha4ed skull but with an air of 4ulnerabilit& in his soft, almost fluffil& feminine cardi2an! 0t was as if his 4er&

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Handout from Art in Mental Health workshop October 2009

appearance in4ited both wariness and strokin2! 3e had been warned that he was a tou2h nut, that he sacked workers readil&, that he was not ps&cholo2icall& minded, that he pro?ected blame e4er&where and accepted no responsibilit& and that he depended on the mental health s&stem while despisin2 it for its inabilit& to treat him! 0t was our third of four assessment sessions, while we prepared a written formulation for him and his ke& worker to make su22estions about their work to2ether! Our first sessions had been polite but war&! 0 was 2lad that 0 had the trainee with me, not because 0 feared 4iolence but ?ust@ldots@ldots well, 0 was 2lad! 0 led him throu2h the sta2es of makin2 the stor&, with him drawin2 ima2es as 0 described each part in turn! 3hen he had finished he told us the stor& throu2h and we asked him some =uestions! 0nitiall& the& sta&ed with the stor&' 8(ell us more about the asteroid - How did he react when the he realised the saucer had spotted him: - 3hat were his feelin2s on bein2 alone a2ain!8 (hen we asked him the =uestion posed abo4e about what the stor& mi2ht be communicatin2, and offered him some of our thou2hts! He was too stron2 a man to weep, 0 think, but was deepl& mo4ed and said as much! 3e felt the same< mo4ed and pri4ile2ed! After he had left us, the two of us had to sit and =uietl& process what had happened - there was no 2ettin2 up and rushin2 off to the ne)t appointment! (he formulation report, when it was written, was all the stron2er for ha4in2 the stor& in it! >ot onl& because the stor& had 2i4en us, we felt, a closer and more detailed insi2ht into his predicament, but because it pro4ided a lan2ua2e which was in4aluable! 3e could use his own words and ima2es in the bod& of the report, a4oidin2 the ps&chobabble he despised and communicatin2 as directl& as such fi2ures of speech do to himself and others! Because it used his own 4ocabular& of metaphor, it was both acceptable to him and more effecti4e in communicatin2 his situation to others who mi2ht read it! 0 work in a ser4ice which concentrates on short-term assessment work "Dunn @ *arr&, #99A< Dent-Brown, #999!$! 3hen 0 am able to commit to a lon2er piece of work thou2h, 0 find the /*%M a 4aluable tool! As a Dramatherapist, 0 am interested in the roles and scenes it contains, and the client and 0 can pla& them out, role re4erse, rewrite, free7e and comment on them! 0n a 2roup, we can allocate roles and impro4ise! (he author can take part in different roles or stand out with me as co-director and obser4e! Once we ha4e worked on a stor& we ma& lea4e it behind onl& for a theme or ima2e to come up as an echo weeks down the line! (he metaphors b& then are so rich, comple) and la&ered in meanin2 that the& ser4e as a 4er& effecti4e shorthand for us to communicate in! +ollea2ues with a different orientation process the raw material of the stor& in different wa&s! A Bestaltist looks for kinds of contact around the Bestalt c&cle and identifies the interruptions! A (ransactional Anal&st looks for e4idence of parent-adult-child self-states! 0f this works, wh& does it work: (he creati4e therapies ha4e a theor& that the art work produced acts as a factor which can moderate distance for clients! (he stor& can help a client who is usuall& o4erwhelmed b& their feelin2s to pro?ect them more safel& into the third person! +on4ersel& the cold, distant, unemotional client can often identif& and describe feelin2s in their stories which the& cannot &et own for themsel4es! Another notion is that stories b&pass con4entional defences which operate all too well in strai2htforward 4erbal intercourse of the 8How are &ou8 - 808m fine8 4ariet&! Because the path of metaphor is not one we tread often, it is perhaps less well 2uarded! 6inall&, because the stor& is a fictional one, we escape from the content-laden repetitions of autobio2raphical material! 3hat is left is nearl& pure process, allowin2 the client and us to see his or her patterns of relatin2 as if for the first

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Handout from Art in Mental Health workshop October 2009

time! (he /*%M is not a panacea and does not work for e4er& client or e4er& therapist! 0t is not a therap& nor an assessment packa2e, thou2h it can be used in both! 0t is not tied to an& theoretical orientation, but could be e)ploited b& most! %tories must be one of the oldest methods of communication we ha4e as a species - wh& not capitalise on a method of discourse that8s been around as lon2 as we ha4e:

CD6DCD>+D% Dent-Brown, ! "#999$, (he si)-part stor& as an aid in the assessment of personalit& disorder, Dramatherap&, 2#'2, #0-#E! Dunn, M! and *arr&, B! "#99A$, A formulated care plan approach to carin2 for people with a personalit& disorder in the communit& settin2, +linical *s&cholo2& 6orum, #0E'1une #99A, #9-22! "Cead this article online here!$ 4on 6ran7, M-5! "#99/$, (he interpretation of fair& tales "re4ised ed!$, 5ondon' %hambhala! 5ahad, M! "#992$, %tor&-makin2 in assessment method for copin2 with stress, in 1ennin2s, % "ed!$ Dramatherap& theor& and practice, #,0-#/-, 5ondon' Coutled2e! im Dent-Brown is a Dramatherapist workin2 in a personalit& disorder consultation team for Hull and Dast Cidin2 +ommunit& Health >H% (rust! He offers trainin2 and super4ision in the use of the /*%M and is undertakin2 a 4alidation and reliabilit& stud& of the method for his *hD at the Fni4ersit& of Hull! Dmail' kimGdent-brown!co!uk

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