Creativity in CAT and the contributions of arts therapies to its theory and practice

Abstract

Abstract Anthony Ryle welcomed many therapists and mental health professionals, like the authors, to cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) with experience and skills from other therapeutic modalities, and he generously encouraged these therapists to creatively integrate these skills and techniques into the CAT processes of recognition, reformulation, and revision. In this chapter we will show how CAT’s practice can be enriched by attending to our clients’ creative potential within their zone of ‘playful’ proximal development, at all stages of therapy. We will demonstrate the use of imaginative and creative therapeutic approaches and how this can encourage the ability of both therapists and clients to contain and express cut-off and fragmented states, trauma, and unexpressed emotion. We will show how the use of the creative therapeutic projective and performative arts experiences and techniques can help in promoting experimentation, playfulness, and improvisation with developing helpful reciprocal roles and expanding flexibility in relating to oneself and others. We will point to particular considerations that therapists need to have in mind when using creative approaches and some thoughts about the place of creativity in mental health services. We will address the following issues: creativity and working with problematic relational procedures; creativity within the CAT framework; offering guidance on creative resources in the therapy room and encouraging self-authoring through reflective writing; the contributions of arts therapies to the theory and practice of CAT including dramatherapy, arts therapy, and cognitive analytic music therapy (CAMT); and reflections on the role of creativity in CAT training.