The Use of Art Therapy with Abused Children

Abstract

With reports of the incidence of child abuse in Britain increasing, art therapists are regularly coming into contact with children suffering from the resultant psychological trauma. A central issue is the right of children to be listened to and taken seriously when making allegations of abuse. To this end I explore the possibility of spontaneous art therapy images being used in the diagnosis of abuse and illustrate my hypotheses with images made by children I treated using art therapy. My findings are compared with those made by other clinicians, and I try to establish the important role art therapy plays in helping children explore their trauma, disclose their abuse and come to terms with their experience through visual expression.