7’71~ An.\ i/r P.\~(.ll(~//i(,1.(1/)?.. Vol. I6 pp. 62-63. ’ Pergamon Press pk. 19X9. Printed in the U.S.A. 0197-4556’89 (;3.00 7 .oo

the American phenomenon of music therapy Connie Isenberg-Grzeda, MMT, RMT-BC, MTA training. My personal preference would have been Director of Music Therapy, Universitk du for this volume to be entitled Amcric~n Pcrsprc- Qukbec 2 Montreal til2r.s WI Music Thercrpy Edrrcwtion end Turi,Ii,Ig to Montreal, Quebec. Canada allow room for the eventual publication of Volume 4 to be entitled Intemationrrl Pctxpccti\~cs WI

Music Thcrrrpy Edwutiou and Twining.

Trtrr~~t~tr rrnd Mtr.stc~r:\~ ill L(fij utld Art

Gilbert Rose, MD

(New Haven. CT: Yale University Press. 1987. 224 pngcs. 527.50)

Gilbert Rose, one of the outstanding theoreti- cians in the fields of psychoanalysis and art, and noted for his significant text (1980), offers an extensive elaboration of his thesis on the interre- lationship of art and psychoanalysis. Few analysts write with such scholarship and aes- thetic sensitivity on the parallels of the two fields and their differences. The book jacket succinctly summarizes the central thesis and scope of Turrrmo oud Mu.stcJry iI1 L(/~J CIIILI Art:

denial of the emotional aspects of perception. Thus each contributes to the ongoing mastery of inner and outer reality.

The author begins his discussion by comparing the childhood of a real-life murderer with that of Dostoevsky. He shows that both were traumatized by a strikingly similar childhood memory of seeing a horse beaten; while this experience dominated the life of the murderer. the writer was able to use it as material for crea- tive elaboration. Dr. Rose then compares the creation of imaginary characters in a case of multiple personality with the splitting and re- integration that take place in creative imagina- tion, as in John Fowles’s novel T/w Fwuc~h

Lic~rtr~rrr~t’s Womr~~. Finally, he presents a vig- nette about a woman whose sense of time be- came altered following the sudden death of her daughter and demonstrates how this can be re- lated to the altered sense of time in the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Charlie Parker.

With this material as background, Dr. Rose argues that, by different routes, both psychoanalysis and art reinvest feeling into thought and perception and thus broaden aware- ness. Psychoanalysis, through verbalization, re- covers repressed memories and isolated feel- ings; art. through sensuous forms, undoes the

As with any good text, the material raises a number of important questions. For instance. Dr. Rose convincingly demonstrates how, at least in some instances, the artist transforms personal trauma into a creative work of art. However, we are still left with the issues of how and when aesthetic mastery produces reconstructive per- sonality change. Dr. Rose cites instances of creative individuals who rarely exhibit a state of creative aliveness within their public self. He also refers to artists whose persona1 creativity does not contain internal trauma, but whose internal chaos spills over into their ongoing daily life. We are still, then, left with a most perplexing issue, one that is particularly cogent for creative arts therapists. When and how does the creative process influence and change other sectors of the artist’s daily life? Can conflicts be worked through on a nonverbal preconscious level and create personality change that is more than ephemeral? The artist, in providing form and transformation to personal trauma, may work through different levels of internalized conflicts associated with a variety of structural and per- sonal intrapsychic currents within his or her per- sonality. For many artists, creativity seems to be their only salvation, warding off an internal sense of disruption. Again, we are left with a question as to what a creative arts therapist can do to make the artwork or therapy a stable creative anchor that can lead to real personality change.

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The Am in Psyc~~r~e~a~y, Vol. 16 pp. 63-64. Q Pergamon Press plc, 1989. Printed in the U.S.A. 0197-4556189 $3.00 + .W

We, of course, already have some answers, but much more is needed in this area.

In his last chapter, Dr. Rose weaves the threads of his thesis into a most provocative fab- ric, He states that most analysts by now recog- nize the importance of an internalized therapeu- tic good object as a facilitator of therapeutic change. Internalization, he states, is produced in the following way: “(a) through the establish- ment of a gratifying involvement followed by (b) the experience of incompatibility in that in- volvement (Behrends & Bfatt, 1985). In other words, interactions with others that had formerly been gratifying and then disrupted are trans- formed into one’s own enduring functions and characteristics” (p. 213). He then goes on to ask the following questions:

Even though the concept of internalization per- tains to such human relationships rather than in- animate objects, does something analogous to in~em~iz~tion take place in the course of re- peated, intensive involvement with aesthetic experiences? Stated most baldly, can art induce inner changes in some way comparable to the emotional maturation that takes place both in psychoanalysis as well as normal development?

The above cited statements, however, need qualification. There are numerous examples of artists whose creative process becomes an ob- session or a haunting persecution_ Not ail art processes are analogous to the benign presence of the analyst. Yet, most artists do feel ““healed”

in doing their work. For many, the art experience produces an internal sense of self-cohesion. What happens, then, when the creative process does not work as a therapeutic medium?

Dr. Rose leaves off with his thesis at a place that can ultimately lead to some very exciting theory building. He refers to Winnicott’s notion of transitional space where the possibilities of analytic therapeutic internalization go on. Is transitional space governed by aesthetic factors such as resonance, responsiveness, and rhythm of the two therapeutic participants? Perhaps for a creative art therapist knowledge and skill in working with aesthetic form should not be con- fined to his or her medium, for the aesthetic forces that are governed in the therapeutic rela- tionship mirror or contrast what is going on in the plastic expression of the patient.

Arthur Robbins, Ed,D. Art Therapy Department

Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY I1205

References

Behrends, R. S. & Blat& S. J. (1985). Internalization and psychological development throughout the life cycle. In A. J. Solnit, R. S. Eissler, & P. B. Neubauer (Eds.1. The Psycho~nu~ytic Study of the Child, 40, 11-39. New Ha- ven: Yale University Press,

Rose, G. tf980). The power of form: A psyc~oa~a~yric ap- proach to aesthetic form. New York: international Uni- versities Press.

Suicide: A Teenage Dilemma

Evelyn Virshup, PhD, ATR

fbs Angeles, Ca,: Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center, 1986, 3~min~te videotape, $125)

The increase in the rate of suicide, especially who is potentially suicidal. Discussions are pre- among teenagers, increases the need to educate sented by clinicians, parents, and a teen self-help not only professionals but the general popula- group comprised of youths who have attempted tion. This 30-minute videotape, produced by suicide, have felt suicidal, are the survivors of a Evelyn Virshup, concisely considers the causes suicider, or have friends who feel suicidal. of the shocking statistics, tells what clues to look The juxtaposition of clinicians giving informa- for, and what to do when dealing with someone tion to the teen groups and parents duplicating

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