ABSTRACT
Chapter 12 reviews the ways concepts of the unconscious have been central to some approaches within the arts therapies: their thinking and their methodology. This chapter explores the notion of the unconscious in relation to the arts therapies and to their concepts of change. It asks whether we can, for example, say that there is any proof that the act of painting can achieve a relationship to the unconscious. If this relationship exists, can it bring about positive change? It looks at research to ask if sound has any connection with unconscious processes, for example, and whether working with enactment or dance connected to a ‘forgotten’ or suppressed traumatic experience can bring about recovery.
