Background: Arts Psychotherapies (art, music, drama and dance/movement) have been integral to mental
health care services for several decades, however consensus and transparency about the clinical process is
still being established. This study investigates practice with a team of six arts psychotherapists working with
severe mental illnesses in London, inpatient and community services. The study examines what in-session
practice elements are used, whether there is consensus about what the practice elements are and why the
arts therapists use them.
Method: The methods employed in the first phase of the project are interview-based with thematic
analysis; repertory grid technique and nominal group techniques are used to analyse the data with the aim of
triangulating results to establish greater validity.
Results: The results showed that there is scope for developing a shared language about in-session
practice elements within a mental health context. However the research examining the timing and reasons
for employing those practice elements is still being undertaken. In this study the first results from an extract
of the interviews illustrates a complex relationship between theory and practice.
Conclusion: From the findings so far it would appear that within this specific context it is possible to see
that there are ways of categorising the therapist’s actions that become comparable across the arts
psychotherapies. From the therapist’s personal descriptions of his or her own practice, there also appears to
be a close correlation between arts psychotherapies in a mental health community and inpatient context.
Additionally, evidence-based practice models such as mentalisation-based therapies appear to have a close
correlation
