Breaking the Silence: Art Therapy with Children from Violent HomesChildren of violence need to be heard. Unable or unwilling to verbalize their suffering, abused children are often immobilized by fear, rage, guilt, and pain. In the second edition of Breaking the Silence: Art Therapy with Children from Violent Homes, Cathy Malchiodi demonstrates the unique power of art therapy as a tool for intervening with children from violent backgrounds. In this new edition, she describes the intervention process from intake to termination, noting the complex issues involved at various levels of evaluation and interpretation. Bringing her years of experience in working at battered women's shelters to bear on the subject, Ms. Malchiodi brings the language of art therapy to life--a language of art that gives children a voice and those who work with them, a way of listening. The emphasis here is on the short-term setting where time is at a premium and circumstances are unpredictable. It is within this setting that mental health practitioners often experience frustration and a sense of helplessness in their work with the youngest victims of abusive families. Since the first edition of this book was published, research has led to some new ideas related to sexual abuse. The author analyzes several issues concerning the treatment of sexually abused children and art expressions of sexually abused children. In addition, Ms. Malchiodi launches a discussion about the ethical issues in the use of children's art as a whole. Featured throughout the book are 95 drawings by abused children. These drawings are at once poignant and hopeful, clearly representing the extraordinary suffering that abused children experience at, at the same time, showing that they can be reached. Because the practice of art therapy methods has been integrated into many disciplines, the final chapter covers development of art therapy programs for children. The author shares information on art supplied, space, and storage ideas. For art therapists, social workers, and other practitioners who work with children in crisis, this book presents a practical methodology for intervention that fosters the compassion and insight necessary to reveal what words cannot. |
Contents
CHAPTER ONE The Role of Art Therapy in the Assessment | 1 |
CHAPTER TWO Working with Children from Violent Homes | 16 |
CHAPTER THREE Art Evaluation with Children | 50 |
Developmental Levels in Childrens Art and Their Importance | 67 |
Organizing the Written Evaluation | 74 |
Referral | 90 |
CHAPTER FOUR Art Intervention with Children | 92 |
Some Suggestions for Specific Group Art Interventions | 122 |
Summary | 128 |
CHAPTER SIX Developing Art Therapy Programs for Children | 171 |
Environment | 178 |
Play Items | 184 |
Epilogue | 190 |
Name Index | 205 |
Common terms and phrases
adult aggression anxiety art evaluation art expression art intervention art process art products art tasks art therapy services art therapy session aspects assessment battered women's shelter behavior chil child abuse child client child sexual abuse children from violent children in crisis children in shelters children's art clay clinical clinicians color coping crayon create creative depicted developmental level disclosure dissociative Dissociative Identity Disorder domestic violence drawing task dren effective eight-year-old emotional environment experienced experiences extremely facility family violence father fear feelings felt markers focus girl goals important incest intake involving LSBD Malchiodi materials metaphor modalities mother observations pain paint paper particularly pencil person drawing physical abuse play therapy professionals protective psychological Psychotherapy referral regression safe house sexually abused children shelter programs short-term sion situation skills specific stage Stember stress therapeutic therapist tion trauma treatment team understanding verbal victims violent homes visual
Popular passages
Page 196 - Burgess, AW, McCausland, MP. & Wolbert. WA (1981). Children's drawings as indicators of sexual trauma.
Page 195 - Blain, GH, Bergner, RM, Lewis, ML, & Goldstein, MA (1981). The use of objectively scorable House-Tree-Person indicators to establish child abuse. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 37, 667-673.