Introduction to the special issue on the creative arts therapies with adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence. The teen years, ages 1319, right? Not exactly. Isn’t it a normal period of psychological development? Normal? Perhaps it is really a psychopathological condition yet to be listed in DSM-III-R? On the other hand, my great uncle always said he was an adolescent. Maybe it is just a state of mind. This Special Issue will address the relationship between the creative arts therapies and adolescents. Many unique observations and techniques are offered that will contribute much to the field. Nevertheless, there is something special about this particular population that holds importance to creative arts therapists. I began my adolescence performing skits with my brothers for my parents and their guests. Now I am a drama therapist, and I perform skits with my patients for the staff and families at my hospital. What I began then, I have never stopped. For many creative arts therapists, adolescence was the time we discovered our art form. After all, art as a conscious process requires the development of the capacity for abstraction, a capacity that emerges fully during adolescence. From the playful musings of the child, in adolescence we begin to discern talent, and mere expression turns into disciplined form. We make these discoveries because someone we loved gave our artistic expression value, just as now we affirm our patients by giving value to their artistic creations. Adolescence has been characterized as the stage of life where play is transformed into work. Creative arts therapists, whose work is play, can legitimately be accused of living in this transformative space. Not set in our ways, still skeptical of authority, not quite yet accepted, our near rebellious energy and spontaneity have kept many an institution alive with spirit, stirred by a rhythmic, creative pulse. Yes, there is a special tie between the creative arts therapies and adolescence, and yet this population can be among the most challenging to us. Their emotionality and defensiveness, fragility and stubbornness demand a special clinical acumen. Their rejection of childish ways often is expressed by a rejection of our modalities. Finally, their need to create private inner space beyond the reach of parents is expressed by a refusal to share their thoughts with us. “A penny for your thoughts, ’ ’ my mother would say when she wanted me to tell her what she already had surmised. After age 15, I simply retorted, “Humpf.” I thought they were worth at least a dollar. The Special Issue begins with a Perspective by Rente Emunah entitled, “Expression and Expansion in Adolescence: The Significance of Creative Arts Therapy. ” Emunah presents the four concepts of explosion, expression, containment, and expansion to link adolescent feelings and behavior to the processes of the creative arts therapies. She asserts that the balance and interplay between expression and containment in creative arts activities help adolescents achieve a sense of mastery over their emotions. Emunah describes both the extreme challenge and potential for creativity inherent in the adolescent’s struggle for maturity, and identifies some of the techniques she has found useful in overcoming their resistance and establishing a therapeutic alliance. She also reminds us that many of our own primary values and perspectives on life were forged during our adolescence, particularly our love of our art form. She notes that this is one “population” we have all been! C. Jane Estelle, in “Contrasting Creativity and Alienation in Adolescent Experience,” gives us an understanding of two underlying processes that con-