ABSTRACT
Creative Therapy Case Studies
These chapters illustrate how creative therapy has been applied to a wide variety of presenting issues. A young man living at home with his mother, depressed and unable to leave home, is instructed to grow half a beard and ask for a daily slice of homemade sour cherry pie. A true fairy tale is constructed and entered by a creative adolescent girl who came for help with self-cutting. A woman whose gloom is found linked to a former tragic romance is advised to bring two forgotten violins out of her closet and play a different kind of song. An older man who still feels the effects of being hindered by an emotionally hardened father is asked to find a feather like the one he lost in childhood, but this time kept in a handmade feather house, making sure it is available for future generations to learn its special teaching about softness. A woman suffering from intestinal issues and anxiety learns how to relate to her intestine as a friend and have a fantasy romance with it. In another session, a man and woman nervous about entering marriage are advised to frequently make a toast with a bitter tasting drink to assure that the many tastes of life are welcomed. Entering the mystery of unexplainable spirituality, a diagnosed schizophrenic finds himself ordained by an electrical-like experience in an Arkansas session witnessed by a group of clergy. Being formerly struck by lightning leads to making a handheld lightning bolt for another client—reminding him to shock others in a surprising and delightful manner. Finally, a man diagnosed with a terminal illness is theatrically directed to turn his home into a Gershwin-inspired musical production for his wife that includes his singing the feature song “Our Love Is Here to Stay.”
