Poets and artists have an uncanny knack for connecting our hearts and minds. In many ways this is also the project of psychotherapy; in any application of the underlying science it too becomes an art. Rarely do people enter therapy in search of theories, rather they want their experience, often painful, addressed. Dealing with the landscapes and soundscapes of our minds, we could describe psychotherapy, whatever else it is, as an interpretive art. Artists perform a vital function as story tellers for our times. Whatever the medium, art has the capacity to confront, to disrupt, to disturb, to inspire, to evoke and to capture the universal, the unique and the particular, and in so doing to comment on the experience of the individual and of the culture.
Each of us have stories to tell and we tell them over and over in many different ways. Our words, our gestures, our symptoms and our dreams all resonate with potential meaning. The stories we tell ourselves, collective and personal, carry meanings far beyond the simple and the linear. All, one way or another, are a reflection of the culture, the sub-culture, the family or individual life in which they arise. Psychotherapists are interested in child development, looking routinely to significant early life experiences to understand who and how people are in later life. It is also the case that these histories are more often than not incomplete, unreliable or fragmented reports of a person’s life. No matter… the skilful therapist will take what they can get. Engaging with a new client requires a willingness on the part of the therapist to see the world of another for what it is.
Noticing precedes understanding, and a tolerance for not knowing and a willingness to remain open before reaching too fast for formulations is a necessary tension a therapist must hold. A skilful therapist will not assume that their client(s) stories will begin at the beginning and end at the end. They know that the stories being told will be articulated in many ways, often beyond words. They are ready to be moved, one way or another by that which is being communicated, and together with their clients they will be ready to work sensitively and respectfully to construct more coherent, hopefully more liberating narratives.
Artists and therapists alike work with abstraction and revelation, with metaphor and meaning, with listening and rhythm, and with light and shadow. All are ways of coming at and expanding what is known, as well as understanding the limits of knowledge. There is an intersubjective dynamic that occurs both in the clinical as well as the creative process. An attuned therapist will feel their client’s experience as if it were their own, perhaps this is the only way we can truly understand another. This experiencing is evoked by more than just words. The same is true for the poet, painter and composer alike, there is a mysterious alchemic component necessary for any creative endeavour… more than just words or notes on the page, or paint on the canvas.
As a therapist I am unlikely to recommend the reading of a theoretical text to any of my clients, preferring instead to point someone towards a good novel, movie, piece of music or poetry. Where theoretical psychology might provide clarity in its description of experience, poetry and art has the power to evoke it. There is a place where both disciplines intersect and where we might find each in the other.
To enquire about psychotherapy sessions with Gerry Gilmartin, please contact her here, or to view our full clinical team, please click here.
Gerry Gilmartin is an accredited, registered and experienced psychotherapeutic counsellor. She currently works with individuals (young people/adults) and couples in private practice. Gerry is available at our Brighton and Hove Practice.
Further reading by Gerry Gilmartin –
Cultivating a tolerance for uncertainty
The importance of generosity and forgiveness in a hostile world
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