Art Therapists’ Perceptions of What Happens When They Create Art Alongside Their Clients in the Practice Of Group Therapy

Although case studies and personal accounts since the founding of the art therapy field discussed creating art alongside clients as a valuable practice, few systematic studies have explored this method. This collaborative art-based dissertation explored art therapists’ perceptions of two research questions: (1) What happens when art therapists create art alongside their clients in their group art therapy practices? and (2) What is gained and what is lost when they engage in this practice? Four group art therapists (3 females, 1 male) with 5 to 31 (median 8.5) years of experience contributed as co-researchers. They participated in 6 hours of semistructured interviews that incorporated art-making and discussion. As the researcher, I used personal response art-making, creative writing, painting, and poetic responses to gain a holistic sense of the inquiry and generate four video summations. These summations identify and present the individual co-researchers’ ideas, thoughts, gestures, phrases, and concepts related to the research questions. Finally, I created a culminating video to synthesize outcomes from work with all co-researchers. The outcomes suggest that creating art alongside clients affects four interrelated aspects of group art therapy: (a) developing an egalitarian group environment, (b) expressing authentic leadership, (c) augmenting therapist presence, and (d) boosting group member engagement. Three potential challenges of the alongside approach are (a) delayed therapist responses, (b) intimidating clients with artistic skills, and (c) decreased ability to recall sequential details related to construction of imagery. Further, methods to transform these risks into positive therapeutic encounters and benefits of creating art alongside group members emerged in more detail than in previous four essential skills: (a) multitasking, (b) shifting awareness, (c) letting go of control, and (d) media awareness. The dissertation adds the term companioning art-making to the literature. This inclusive term emphasizes the practice of authentically making art in the presence of group members

Chlormethine Gel in Combination With Other Therapies for Treatment of Mycosis Fungoides: A Review With Patient Cases

Topical chlormethine gel has been approved as monotherapy for treatment of adult patients with mycosis fungoides (MF), the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. In clinical practice, chlormethine gel is often combined with other skin-directed or systemic therapies to optimize response and target recalcitrant lesions. Positive outcomes with combination regimens using chlormethine gel and topical corticosteroids, phototherapy, retinoids, methotrexate, or interferon-α have been reported in literature. However, there are no treatment guidelines on the use of combination regimens with chlormethine gel. To provide real-world evidence and guidance on the use of chlormethine gel combination regimens, several cases of patients treated with chlormethine gel combined with phototherapy (n = 5), retinoids (n = 16), or mogamulizumab (n = 3) are presented. These different combination regimens showed promising results. Most patients had a complete or partial response following treatment and the combinations were well-tolerated over extended treatment periods. Patients receiving chlormethine gel with retinoids had long-term periods of remission, even after treatment discontinuation. Durations of response of up to 3 years were observed in these patients. This long-term disease control may be the result of disease-modifying effects of chlormethine. Previous studies have shown targeted reductions in malignant T-cell clones in patients treated with chlormethine gel as well as improved post-treatment responses. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness and safety of combination treatment regimens with chlormethine gel and to assess the impact chlormethine gel has on disease control