ABSTRACT
Maria participated in an outpatient art therapy group for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia. This chapter presents considerations about how one may understand the efficacy of art therapy that is named as 'artwork-focused art therapy'. It shows how art promotes what is defined as 'sensory presence' and thereby strengthens the basic sense of self. The chapter underlines art's potential for creating new forms that contribute to a shaping of consciousness. It presents the concept of objectivation for the phenomenon of giving form to something that has no form. The chapter presents an understanding of psychosis that builds on the studies of consciousness made by European phenomenologists. The focus of phenomenology is the study of consciousness by a systematic analysis of experience and the way we experience things. By focusing on the interrelatedness between phenomena of the world and experience of the phenomena the phenomenological understanding of consciousness differs from more commonly used forms of thinking which can be described as dualistic.
