ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the role of creative activity in treatment and then discusses the ways in which it was facilitated and incorporated in therapy, as demonstrated in the cases of David and Rachel. In order to incorporate the patient's creative activity in therapy, the therapist must acquire some degree of understanding of the creative process, the function of creativity, and the role that creative activity plays in the therapeutic process. An understanding of the role of creative activity in treatment will enhance the therapist's receptivity in incorporating the patient's creativity in the therapeutic process as a further means of communication in addition to the usual mode with which she has been accustomed. The playful element introduced by the incorporation of creative activity into treatment is of great therapeutic importance. The therapist, who becomes an ally in the patient's attempt to understand himself by means of his creative activity and in his subsequent work of mourning, is, thus, a witnessing "other".
