Intersubjectivity in Art Therapy:
The role of art objects in facilitating
the therapeutic relationship and healing.

Research and Presentation by
Audra Tolbert-Martin, MFA, MA, LPC, NCC, RPT

Broader Definitions of
Intersubjectivity
 Agreement between people
 Common sense (shared constructed meanings)
 Self-presentation, lying (operating between two subjective
realities), practical jokes, and social emotions.

 Psychological energy moving between two or more
subjects (ex., love, death). (Gillespie & Cornish, 2010).

Abstract
 The field of art therapy has an opportunity to find
itself well poised between currents of contemporary
philosophy, psychoanalysis, attachment theory, and
neuroscience. This presentation attempts to examine
the art therapeutic relationship under the umbrella
concept of intersubjectivity. Intersubjectivity Theory,
in my opinion, connects these various domains in a
way that is beneficial to contemporary art therapy.

Philosophy and Intersubjectivity
 “Intersubjectivity as an epistemology rejects the idea
that we are fundamentally isolated individuals, but
rather that our deepest nature is relationship.” (De
Quincey, 2009).

Intersubjectivity and The Body
 In Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception,
intersubjectivity is one of intercorporeality where the
only thing that is relevant for the human is the body.
 For Merleau-Ponty, the body is always finding ways
to optimize its relation with the world (Dreyfus,
1999).

Psychoanalysis & Intersubjectivity
 Jessica Benjamin, a leading contemporary psychoanalyst and early pioneer
of second-wave feminism, in political analysis and psychology, stated in her
book, Bonds of Love, that the intersubjective experience between the
infant and mother is that of subject to subject and not from the position of
subject to object. Benjamin’s early participation in “consciousness raising”
groups helped connect the personal to the political.
 Benjamin believed that by breaking the notion of subject to object and
actually meeting the client in the relational framework of intersubjectivity
(subjective other, subjective self), the client can then experience something
more attuned to the actual original mother/ child relationship (the
intersubjective). The intersubjective relational field is a mutually
influencing dyad, where sameness and difference coexist (Benjamin J. ,
1988).

The Personal is Political
 What does it mean for the personal to be political in
art therapy? For me, it means that my client’s
experience is valid and that no one has the right to
censor her voice. If I can’t hear her or help her find
voice through another expressive language then how
is she to effect change, how is she to politicize – make
manifest changes at the personal and societal level
that can improve her life and the oppressed.

Attachment Theory and
Intersubjectivity
 It is through the mutuality of the mother/child relationship that the client develops a
physiologically and psychobiologically attuned stance in the world that is selfreflective, curious and healthy in relating to others (Schore, 2012) (Fonagy, 2005). If
this stance is misattuned, the client will suffer in her relationships with self and others.
 Stern (2010), states that for a true core self to develop there must be self-agency,
coherency, and continuity. A client must feel that she is an autonomous being
responsible for her own feelings and actions; she must feel that she is intact in all
contexts (not a fragmented self), and lastly, she must have a sense of continuity in her
personal history; a sense that she is the same person who is gaining new experiences.
Those with a secure attachment are more like to develop core self that is dynamic,
resilient, spontaneous, adaptable and creative.
 If this stance between mother and infant is misattuned, the client will suffer in her
relationships with self and others. An infant’s very survival is dependent upon
attuning to the mother, no matter how deficient the mothering is (Fonagy, 2005).

Embodiment and Intersubjectivity
 Fuchs (2016) Conceives of intersubjectivity as an
embodied experience starting in infancy. This
primary experience imprints our knowledge of
empathy and lifelong behavioral patterns of relating
in relationships.

Neuroscience and Intersubjectivity

 Neuroscience has demonstrated that we are forever creational beings as
new neurons (neurogenesis) continue to be created throughout the adult
lifespan (Schore, 2012).
 Humans are hardwired for emotions and that connecting with Primary
Processes (Panksepp, 2010) afford the client the opportunity to create new
neuropathways for healing and attunement within oneself (Hass-Cohen,
Findlay, & Cozolino, 2015; Dreyfus, 1999) (Chapman, 2014) (Schore, 2012).
Human-beings are hardwired for Primary Intersubjectivity (Trevarthen and
Meltzoff, 1979).
 Mirror Neuron research is demonstrating how imagination has direct
connection with self-agency as the two areas of activation in the brain share
a cortical connection (Knox, 2009).

Intersubjectivity and Trauma Theory

 Trauma theory supports the idea of activating affects
with the purpose of transforming, expanding,
refining, and re-storing (Van Der Hart, Brown, & Van
Der Kolk, 1989). When considering neuroscience and
intersubjectivity as an embodied experienced
imprinted from infancy throughout life, we can
understand more fully how The Body Keeps the
Score(Van Der Kolk, 2014).

Intersubjectivity and the
Creative Therapist
 The creative encounter (between the therapist and
client), and its impact on the neurobiology of the
client, is activating right hemisphere activity where
affects of trauma are stored (Schore, 2012).
Increasing the client’s self-agency using imagination
as a way to engage the past, present, and future, the
client may strengthen her neurobiological
connections for self-agency outside the session.

Neuroscience and Intersubjectivity

 In the book, The Birth of Intersubjectivity (Massimo A., and Gallese, 2014),
cite studies on motor neurons; Embodied Simulation theory has
demonstrated that mirror neurons are being produced and activated in premotor areas of the brain prior to cognitive areas being activated. When a
person observes another person reaching for an apple, the observer’s own
mirror neurons become activated. This occurs before actual mentalizing
about the other’s intentions (Gallese, 2007).
 Embodied Simulation Theory is relevant to the intersubjective experience in
art therapy because art therapists model physical art making. We extend
our consciousness and our bodies to the other to feel more deeply the
client’s struggles. As an art therapist, I may even assist my client (Third
Hand) in achieving what it is they are wishing to express– this alone requires
me to acknowledge the intercorporeality of our existence.

Neuroscience and Intersubjectivity

 It is hard to experience one’s own self without the other.
When alterity is missing and no reciprocity is present, an
Other ceases to emerge (Gallese, 2007).
 Two examples that come to mind dealing with the power
of the human spirit to survive is the movies Cast Away and
Life of Pi. Both protagonists in the films utilize their
imagination to continue to know themselves more deeply
through their harrowing journeys.

Neuroscience and Intersubjectivity

 Iain McGilchrist’s book, The Master and the Emissary,
explores the idea of a world where one viewpoint
dominates. He refrains from using labels such as left
brain and right brain, but ultimately outlines how it is
that a biased type of thinking limits the human
potential. He believes that the Cartesian split
between mind and body has caused this rift. To heal
it and have access to our whole self, we need to
engage the body and be receptive to other forms of
knowledge.

Intersubjectivity and OOO Theory
 Graham Harmon, part of the Speculative Realism movement in
philosophy and founder of Object Oriented Ontology, asserts in
his philosophy that it is not that objects become differentiated
through the relational process; objects, rather, become known
or manifest into being through the process of relationship,
revealing an already existing essence (a withheld interiority that
has its own subjectivity or knowing).
 In the context of my paper, all subjects are objects or vice versa.

Object Oriented Ontology
 OOO Theory stands in opposition to the Materialism position
that objects are nothing more than matter. Materialists believe
that if it cannot be seen and experienced in physical matter then
it does not exist, and therefore, whatever we perceive as
consciousness is only because of the interactions of the matter.
 OOO’s believe that we have much to gain from our experience
in the world, and that notions of knowledge only truly existing if
located through direct material observation has limited our
worldview, and perhaps prohibited our ability to generate
solutions and ideas to current world problems.

Basic Principles of OOO Philosophy



1. Anti-Anthropocentric – rejects the privileging of humans as more important than other beings (objects).



2. Rejects Correlationism theory – The idea that we only ever have access to the correlation between thinking being,
and never to either separately.



3. Rejection of Undermining and Overmining – Undermining is claiming we can never know because the experience is
some deeper force. Overmining is that there is nothing beneath (nothing below) what appears in the mind. Only
language or discourse matters. Both are ways to discount the object.



4. Preservation of Finitude – An object cannot be translated into direct and complete knowledge of the object.



5. Withdrawal – The idea that objects are independent of other objects and of the qualities they bring forth at any
given spatiotemporal dimension. Objects can never be exhausted by their relations.


(Principles - Excerpt from Wikipedia citing the works of Harmon (2002), Bryant (2011), Morton (2010), Coffield (2011), Gratton (2011), Bogost (2012), Berry
(2012) Galloway (2012), Shaviro (2011).

History of Intersubjectivity

 1.First used in philosophy by by Husserl (1859-1938), Heidegger
(1889-1976), and Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), Jurgen Habermas (1929living)(Skaife, 2001).
 2. Explored early on by psychoanalysts in the 80’s: Heinz Kohut,
Robert Stolorow, George E. Atwood, Jessica Benjamin, and Sylvia
Montefoschi. It is believed the term was first used by Robert
Stolorow and George Atwood in 1984.
 3. Benjamin (2015) believes Intersubjectivity has its origins in the
social theory of Jürgen Habermas who used the term,
“Intersubjectivity of mutual understanding”. Habermas is more
well-known for his theory and view of the Lifeworld.

Intersubjectivity Defined
 Definitions of Intersubjectivity: Most would agree that intersubjectivity is a
concept that connotes agreement (Scheff, 2015). It is considered the
sharing of two or more subjective states by individuals or entities.
 Philosophy – How we navigate and interact with our world. Would we treat the
environment better if we perceived a material things as living versus as dead.
 Phenomenology – The experience of energy or micro changes perceived between
entities. It is what we notice in ourselves and others about our bodily states and
mind.
 Psychology – How we perceive another’s mental state – desires, fantasies, beliefs,
etc. (known as mentalizing)
 Child Development – The mother / infant dyad and the spontaneous exchange
between the body/mind/intentions.
 Literature – How objects interact or inform narrative.
 Linguistics – How we communicate. Are ideas and memes communicated
differently among thought communities.

Intersubjectivity: Then and Now
 Employed first by the field of philosophy
 Used first in the field of psychology by psychoanalysts
in the 1980’s and more recently in Relational,
Attachment, and Mentalizing Theories.
 Used in many contemporary contexts.

View of the Role of Art Objects
in Art Therapy
 Watkins (1981), Sevareign (1992), Skaife (2001) write about art
objects and how they manage the therapeutic dyad and process.
All three, from psychoanalytic backgrounds, view the art objects
as providing access to the unconscious. Skaife is interested in
how art made in session prioritizes the verbal discussion because
of its analytic roots. My research was aimed at bringing into
alignment three subjective minds and bodies (embodied
subjectivities), where deeper understanding can only occur,
because meeting at the verbal level is unsatisfactory, and the
only way to meet in a more exacting realm is via the direct
interrogation of the infinitely inexaustible interior of the other
(the art object).

6 Approaches to Art Therapy
(Watkins, 1982)
 1. The diagnostic approach
 2. Envisioning the unconscious and its products as dangerous.
When art objects are perceived as too permeable and blurring the
boundaries between real and imaginary.
 3. The imaginal is encouraged, but the positive is only emphasized.
 4. The psychoanalytic interpretive approach, where latent meaning
derived from interpretation is more important than the manifest
image.
 5. The expression of the imaginal becomes curative in and of itself.
It is not the interaction between the therapist and client.
 6. The understanding that the image is the best possible way of
representing the unknown. The therapists facilitates a discussion
which merges the past, present, and future.

IRB Approved Project
 I am seeking to research the intersubjective experience
in art therapy between the art therapist and client. The
aim of my research is to explore in-depth the
phenomenological experience of intersubjectivity and
how art therapy enhances the ability for subjective
entities to come into greater alignment
(intersubjectivity) with one another.

My Theoretical Orientation
 Integrated
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Jungian – James Hillman
Existential
Person-centered
Affect-oriented approaches (AEDP)
Empathy-oriented approaches

Aim with OOO Approach
to Art Objects
 Dispensing with the burdens of psychoanalytic
thinking in processing art.

Intersubjectivity as Defined in
My Art Therapy Research Project
 Any moment, movement, microphenomena, entity or event
that brings the embodied subjectivities of the art therapist,
client, and art object into closer alignment, with the aim of
the client feeling and experiencing more recognition and
understanding of her core self. This requires the art therapist
to remain attuned to her client’s mental states and bodily
sensations (including art process and implicit/explicit
expression, identification, and emotional or physical
processing brought forth by the art object).
 It is the phenomenological and psychobiologically attuned art
therapist who most effectively maximizes the intersubjective
experience for the client, herself and art object (Schore, 2014;
Verfaille, 2016; Fonagy, 2015;).


Definition written by Audra Tolbert-Martin, MFA, MA, LPC

Intersubjectivity in the
Therapy Session
 How will I know upon observation that intersubjectivity is
happening?

 Improvisational behavior
 Making art or creative expression. The client may feel compelled to
make art because I am making art with her. I may change my art
making approach based on her bodily movements and mental
changes.
 Jokes or laughter, or other shared emotions
 Body Language
 Perception checking
 Acknowledgment of mental states (mentalizing)
 Identifying and Processing Feelings
 Research Questionnaire Results

Why Is Studying Intersubjectivity
Helpful to the Field of Art Therapy?
 By studying how art therapy enhances the relational
dyad (triad or more when including the art
process/artwork/materials), art therapy and the
creative therapist move to the forefront of the
contemporary dialogue in counseling and psychology
about how the arts enhance or add to therapeutic
effectiveness. By studying the what and how of the
art therapeutic process, we may be able to share our
knowledge in ways that enhance public and
consumer knowledge about art therapy, as well as
educate and elucidate our process to other clinicians
and the medical field.

Research Aspiration
 I will be adding to the field of knowledge about
intersubjectivity in art therapy. This is an important
contribution because most intersubjective research studies
the intersubjective experience in therapy utilizing strictly
“talk therapy” between two people – the therapist and
client (subject/object). The research does not consider
how intersubjectivity in the art therapeutic relationship is
different due to the ability in the art making process to
bring about additional subjective entities in ways that
differ from other therapeutic approaches.

Six Presuppositions
 1) The art therapeutic relationship is a form of an attachment relationship.
 2) The client is more than a mind. She has a body that carries with it an
embodied experience of a lived life.
 3) Art objects hold meaning.
 4) Art objects are embodied (a visible medium/media and its expression)
and a mind of their own (an infinitely inexhaustible interior).
 5) Art objects made in session are objects that are born in session; the
implicit information that is made explicit is through the interrogation
process.
 6) The Art Therapist’s role is to assist in the birth of the object and the client
in exploring the unknown (Watkins, 1982).
 7) The art object’s role is to be a provocative agent, capable of eliciting
curiosity at the mind and bodily level.
 8) The client participates in making art and processing information that is
revealed.

Methodology
 Ethnographic Research Project Using Post-Modern Ideas to Guide
the Research:

 Current ethnographic research supports the study of the inner
dynamics of cultures as it relates to power differentials (Kapitan, 2010).
 The post-modern and feminist approach that ethnography affords is
ideal because I am seeking to examine closely the historical and current
therapeutic dyadic power structures between client and therapist as well
as the idea of cultural and contextual influences that exist. Post-modern
theory supports that multiple perspectives exist simultaneously.
Pluralism necessitates the need for research practices that more wholly
allow for understanding the unique perspective of participants and the
processes in which they are involved. The therapy field and its particular
facets hold beliefs and processes similar to cultural groups.

IRB Approved
Research Questions
1)At what point during your therapy session today did you feel most understood?
2)What kinds of activities contributed to you having a better understanding of your problem?

3)Do you feel that your therapist has a better grasp of what it is that you are feeling and experiencing
in your life?
4)What activities or experiences in session today contributed to your therapist getting a better idea of
what is unique to your experience/problem?

Research Questions


5) Do you feel that your therapist would be able to describe to you your feelings about your problem today?



6) Do you feel that your therapist was able to adjust her perception of your problem?



7) Did your feelings of aloneness with your problem lessen as a result of the therapy session today?



8) Did your artwork reveal meaningful information to you? If so what?



9) Do you feel the artwork enhanced your inner knowledge about yourself?



10) At any time in the session today did you experience feelings that were new?



11) How did you feel about the information your artwork revealed?



12) How was it for you to regard the artwork as a co-participant in the therapy session?



13) What can you take with you from this session? What will you remember?

Types of Images Collected


Diagrammatic Image: An image which communicates or serves the verbal dialogue. It is often an
image created to connect to others in order to gain recognition or acknowledgement of their
situation. Schaverien (1992) felt that diagrammatic images were not images that facilitate deep
psychological transformation.



Embodied Image: Images which may have started with an intention, but have taken on a life of
their own. Schaverien (1992) states that these images often surprise the client and the therapist. In
Embodied images, the medium and engagement with the material expression take precedence
over the intention or idea. VerFaille (2016) states that embodied images are generally made in the
psychic equivalent mode. In this mode, the need to explain becomes transcended.



Integrated: The client is able to experience the embodied work and also talk and mentalize about
it (Verfaille, 2016).



Transference Images: Images which include the therapist or therapeutic relationship are images in
which transference is evident (Schrverien, 1992).



Dormant Images: Images which resist revealing knowledge, but that are accessible through other
expressive arts. These images become activated when in relationship and sometimes that
relationship needs to be with another sensual object (Harman, 2015).

Pre-Mentalizing Modes
 Psychic-Equivalent: Clients are completely engrossed in
the the art-making process. They don’t paint mad, they
paint rage.
 Pretend Mode: Clients are distanced from the art making
process, staying in control with low emotional
commitment to the work.
 Teleological Mode: An unpinnable affect can be
represented. If the client feels hollow inside, she may
represent that by hollowing out the tummy of her
sculpture. Implicit memory and feelings can be
concretized in the artwork (Verfaille, 2016).

Research Collection Overview

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5 Case Studies
20 Possible Sessions
20 Possible Questionnaires
260 Possible Questions
20 Possible Art Objects
5 Different Possible Art Expression Types
3 Different Pre-Mentalizing Modes

Actual Research Data
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5 Case Study Participants
18 Completed Sessions
13 Questionnaires Administered
18 Art Objects
6 classified as only diagrammatic, 3 as only embodied,
9 as integrated, Zero evident with transference, 1 as
also possible dormant Image.

The Case of Carmen
 13 year old female
 Brought to Counseling for Oppositional Behaviors and
ADHD Symptoms
 4 Images Collected (4Integrated Images)

The Case of Carmen
Session 1

Case of Carmen
Session 2

Case of Carmen
Session 3

Case of Carmen
Session 4

The Case of Mary
 24 year old Caucasian female
 Presented as suffering from anxiety and depression
 4 Images Collected (2 Diagrammatic, 3 Integrated
Images)

Case of Mary
Session 1

Case of Mary
Session 2

Case of Mary
Session 3

Case of Mary
Session 4

Case of Mary
Session 4

CASES/QUESTIONS

At what point during your What kinds of activities
therapy session today did contributed to you having
you feel most
a better understanding of
understood?
your problem?

What activities or
Do you feel that your
experiences in session
Do you feel that your
Do you feel that your
therapist has a better
today contributed to
therapist would be able
therapist was able to
grasp of what it is that
your therapist getting a to describe to you’re your
adjust her perception of
are you feeling and
better idea of what is
feelings about your
your problem?
experiencing in your life?
unique to your
problem today?
experience/problem?

Did your feelings of
aloneness with your
problem lessen as a
result of the therapy
session today?

MAYA (11)

Question #1

Question #2

Question #3

Questions #4

Question #5

Question #6

Question #7

SESSION 1

all of it

making a painting

yes

the talk and making it
relate

yes

yes

yes

SESSION 2

when I talk about my art

Did your artwork reveal
meaningful information
to you? If so, what?

Question #8
yes, try to find a middle
ground
yes, that small things
matter a lot
yes, that I am good,
strong, beautiful

Do you feel the artwork
At anytime in the session
enhanced your inner
today did you experience
knowledge about
feelings that were new?
yourself?

How do you feel about
the information your
artwork revealed?

Hoo was it for you to
What can you take with
regard the artwork as a
you from this session?
co-participant in the
What wil you remember?
therapy session?

Question #9

Question #10

Question #11

Question #12

yes

no

good

yes

Question #13

good

how to fix my issue

making art

yes

talking about the art

yes

yes

yes

yes

good

good

that little things matter

SESSION 3

when we talked

making art

yes

talking, painting

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

good

good

the part where I talk
about my art

SESSION 4

When we were talking

Making sculpture.

yes

Making the sculpture.

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

good

good

to stay calm

MARY (24)

Question #1

Question #2

Question #3

Questions #4

Question #5

Question #6

Question #7

Question #8

Question #9

Question #10

Question #11

Question #12

Question #13

SESSION 1

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

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not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

SESSION 2

definitely after painting

describing my feelings
and walking Audra
through them helped me
understand them better

yes

talking through my
painting and letting it be,
jumping point fo rthe
conversation was
definitely helpful

yes, she did

yes

yes

I'm not sure. It required
me to look at my problem
differently in order to
explain my issue

no

no

I felt better because I was
able to walk through
them and understand
them better

definitely strange, but
something I could get
used to relying on

I will remember our
conversation about a
good deed goes
unpunished

good, it was definitely
helpful

NA

SESSION 3

SESSION 4

RENAE (17)

When we discussed
codependency

talking and my painting

Having something to do
Mostly where working on
with my hands really
my sculpture after where helped as well as working
explored
through my feelings and
issues via my sculpture

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

I feel good - like I better
understand these feelings

refer to question 1

yes

yes

yes

It mostly solidified what I
already thought and felt

yes

no

I felt good about it

Questions #4

Question #8

Question #5

Question #6

Question #7

Question #9

Question #10

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

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not collected

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throughout the session

the bi-lateral drawing I
had a clearer sense

yes! she completely
understands

molding with clay

yes

yes

yes

yes, it showed how much
my mother does for me

yes

no

SESSION 4

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

PARASTOO (22)

Question #1

Question #2

Question #3

Questions #4

Question #5

Question #6

Question #7

Question #8

Question #9

Question #10

Question #11

Question #12

Question #13

SESSION 1

when we discussed that
my needs weren't being
met in my relationship

the painting, because I
can choose colors and
write how I feel on the
inside

yes

dividing the paper and
writing on each side the
contrast of my situation

yes

yes

yes

yes, that my feelings are
valid

yes

I felt more valid

that it's okay to feel the
way I feel

SESSION 2

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

SESSION 3

When we were talking
about my friendship
dilemma about my
significant other

finger painting helped me
open up more

yes

art, drawing

yes

yes

yes, I found the inner
yes, because it didn't
person, blocking me from
seem like I was paranoid
peace

yes

realization, more
understanding

relief, calmness
understanding

I was great way to open
up about everything a
weight has been lifted.

That I need to not let this
inner person control me
based on my fears of
rejection or having a
good relationship.

SESSION 4

All through art therapy.

The activity using clay to
describe how I feel about
myself.

yes

The use of clay.

Yes

Yes

Yes, because I was able
to vent about it easily.

Yes, I need to see the
light that everyone else
sees and that I should
give myself - that light to
shine inside too.

yes

Yes, I felt more happier
and that I am seeing
things clearly.

It opened my eyes to
what I have been
avoiding.

I really enjoyed it and it
helped my expression
more.

To actually look out for
myself and give back to
myself what I give to
others.

Question #5

Question #6

Question #7

Question #8

Question #9

Carmen (13)

Question #11

Question #12

Question #13

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

not collected

glad. I'm happy to know it was good, I understand my mother does things to
about my mother and is
more
protect me, she never

I can take away that
things have gotten better
it gave me more
with my life now, and
information and a more that I will remember that
clear message of what there's so much left to do
really is going on
and it's a whole new
narrative now the past is
gone and I made it

Question #3

Questions #4

Question #10

Question #11

Question #12

Question #13

When we were talking
about the art piece

talking about it

yes, I do feel like my
therapist has a better
understanding

talking about the artwork
contributed to it because
the colors representing
what I was feeling

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

I feel confident

not answered (answer
was erased)

I can think about my
emotions and remember
what my art means

SESSION 2

I felt most understood
talking about the piece

the water, I felt, had a
good understanding of
my stress during it.

yes, at some points of the
piece you could see the
emotion.

blank

blank

blank

blank

no, but it felt good to
take off the stress

blank

blank

blank

blank

SESSION 3

When we talked about
where my dad and I
would be

the meditation

yes

NA

yes

yes

yes

I made me relive how
much more bigger and
confusing my problem is

NA

no

NA

It is meaningful and have
different perspectives of
it.

NA

blank

I will remember that me
and my mom will always
have a strong foundation.

How many participants cited art
as the turning point in the art
therapy session where they felt
more understood? (question 1)
How many participants felt that
making art contributed to their
understanding of their problem?
(question 2)
how many participants felt their
therapist had a better grasp of
their feelings? (question 3
How many participants cited art
as contributing to their therapist
getting a better idea of the
uniqueness of their
problem/experience? (question
4)
How many participants felt their
therapist could describe their
feelings to them? (question 5)
How many participants felt that
their therapist could adjust their
perception of the client's
problem? (question 6)
How many participants felt their
aloneness lessened as a result of
the art therapy session?
(question 7)
How many participants felt that
their artwork revealed
meaningful information to them?
(question 8)
How many participants felt the
artword enhanced their inner
knowledge? (question 9)
How many participants
experienced new feelings?
(question 10)
How many participants positively
regarded the information
revealed in their artwork?
(question 11)
How many participants positively
regarded the artwork as a coparticipant in the session?
(question 12)
How many participants felt they
could take something away with
them from the session? (question
13)

When we uncovered the
meanings of the heart

8 out of 15

11 out of 15

15 out of 15

9 out of 9

14 out of 14

14 out of 14

13 out of 14

11 out of 14

10 out of 14

4 out of 14

12 out of 12

12 out of 13

12 out of 12

Question #2

not collected

SESSION 1

SESSION 4

Question #1

not collected

Question #3

It was nice to distance
I need to work on
myself (literally) from my stability and connection
feelings to look at them.
with my mom.

SESSION 3

not collected

Question #2

NA

yes

SESSION 2

SESSION 1

Question #1

yes

Yes, I was able to
visualize my feelings and
my therapist was able to
use the drawing to
demonstrate how to
change what I am feeling
(make the good feelings yellow, orange - move art
and lessen the bad

talking about it

yes

blank

yes

yes

yes

blank

yes

no

blank

blank

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9: ;

Findings
 How many participants cited art as the turning point in the art therapy session
where they felt more understood? (question 1) 8 out of 15
 How many participants felt that making art contributed to their understanding
of their problem? (question 2) 11 out of 15
 How many participants felt their therapist had a better grasp of their feelings?
(question 3) 15 out of 15
 How many participants cited art as contributing to their therapist getting a
better idea of the uniqueness of their problem/experience? (question 4) 9 out
of 9

Findings (Cont’d)
 How many participants felt their therapist could describe their
feelings to them? (question 5) 14 out of 14
 How many participants felt that their therapist could adjust
their perception of the client's problem? (question 6) 14 out of
14
 How many participants felt their aloneness lessened as a result
of the art therapy session? (question 7) 13 out of 14

 How many participants felt that their artwork revealed
meaningful information to them? (question 8) 11 out of 14

Findings (cont’d)
 How many participants felt the artwork enhanced their inner knowledge?
(question 9) 10 out of 14
 How many participants experienced new feelings? (question 10) 4 out of 14

 How many participants positively regarded the information revealed in
their artwork? (question 11) 12 out of 12
 How many participants positively regarded the artwork as a co-participant
in the session? (question 12) 12 out of 13

 How many participants felt they could take something away with them
from the session? (question 13) 12 out of 12

Discussion:
The Art Object as Art Agent
 The Art-Agent (art object) is an entity with its own
subjectivity, ontological status, and infinitely inexhaustible
interior. While artwork is made by a living breathing body,
it becomes it own being and embodied subjectivity.
 When the Art-Agent is worthy of interrogation, then it has
the ability to be understood.
 As the therapist and client apply radical empathy to the
Art-Agent and understands its experience, then the client
becomes changed and the possibility for wholeness exists.

The Symptom is No Longer Alienated;
It Now Has Status, Where Empathy and
Relationship Can Begin

 The artwork produced in session is its own entity. While
the physical artwork cannot exist without its maker, the
interior of the art object can exist independently.
 The therapist becomes another object (a subjective being)
in the room from which to indirectly access knowledge
from the inexhaustible interior of the art object, with the
aim to bring into alignment the intersubjectivity between
objects (subjective entities).

Noetic Sciences
 Noetic Sciences – Inner wisdom, direct knowing,
subjective understanding.
 Anoetic – Pure emotion and sensation without
cognition. An experience incapable of being thought.
 Noetic – Relating to mental activity and intellect.
 (Definitions taken from the Institute of Noetic Sciences and
Google Dictionary, 2018).

Discussion:
The Art Objects Need the Client, The Context
and The Art Therapist
 Art Therapy is unique in that it brings into the relational field
other subjective entities, (what I call Art-Agents) to the
therapeutic dyad thus, creating a triadic event. When the art
therapist and client apply radical empathy to the artwork (as
having its own interiority or knowledge), in the dynamism of the
art therapy session, then deeper knowledge (anoetic and
noetic), can be experienced, processed and brought into
conscious awareness. The art objects come into relationship
with other subjects and find a way to be understood that was
not otherwise afforded. The intersubjectivity of the therapeutic
dyad becomes enhanced as the client’s empathy for herself and
the other increases.

Who Needs Whom?



The Art Objects need the creator to bring life to them. They also needed the art therapist to
facilitate understanding, bridging the revelations of the artwork to the conscious mind of the
client. The art therapist, as multi-lingual, bridges any communication divide between herself, the
client and artwork.



The client needs the artwork to express what she cannot. She needs the art therapist to provide
the mediums which can best assist in her affective expression. She needs the art therapist and
artwork to help her more profoundly connect with that which is alienated.



The art therapist needs the client to show initiative in her therapeutic process by her willingness to
participate with the art medium. The art therapist needs the artwork to be a willing participant that
is infinitely inexhaustible. The art therapist needs herself to be actively engaged in her own art
making so that she keeps her intuitive knowing honed about the psychological process of art
making and its medium.


An art therapist’s intuitive ability to keep her finger on the zeitgeist is most perceptive when she herself is
engaged in culture and art making. The art therapist is deeply empathetic for what the Art-Agent brings
to session and therefore, her preparation is incalculable.

Commentary
 It is through the Triad that art therapists actualize their role. We
can never lose sight that our role is to facilitate the subjective
being of the client and art objects, so that a synergy - an
Intersubjective field of relating - is activated. Is is through the
Other that we come to know ourselves. In Art Therapy the
Other is more than the art therapist in the consulting room, it is
also the provocative art object. If Art Therapists are not actively
engaging the clients and Art-Agents then we are limiting our
clients’ access and empathy to their very own symptoms. The
art provocateur (Art-Agent) comes into being to provoke, reveal
and potentially heal, vis-à-vis its own subjectivity and ontological
status, what the mind cannot confront.

Art-Agent
 The Art-Agent is a Double Agent –who moves from
alienated symptom to a being with its own subjective
status (completing the Triad). Essentially, there are
three subjective entities in the art therapy consulting
room. The Art-Agent becomes a double agent in
procuring the empathy from the client and thus,
incorporating for the client a new pathway for inner
knowledge (a new companion which which to enter
into relationship with).

Future Research
 Studying the unique intersubjective relationship in art
therapy is necessary to further understand how the
relational processes actually become enhanced when
art objects are created in the therapeutic session. It is
important to the field of art therapy to understand
more deeply what the art objects do or bring to the
therapeutic alliance.

Recommendations for
Future Research
 How video counseling impacts intersubjectivity/ in online
art therapy.
 Intercorporeality in video art Therapy
 How intersubjectivity is impacted in art therapy using
different art therapy approaches.
 How intersubjectivity in art therapy is experienced with
different mediums or choices of mediums.
 Consciousness awareness in art therapy
 Effectiveness of using OOO informed art therapy
approach..

Objects Hold Meaning
 In this presentation, I attempted to demonstrate that objects facilitate
healing as measured vis-à-vis intersubjectivity. The healing that is
demonstrated in my research is that the art objects made in session hold
meaning and they serve the therapeutic alliance; this supports the
conclusions of Attachment and Relational Theory, that a client may
experience healing through the rupture and repair process of a good
enough attachment relationship in therapy. It also supports Object
Oriented Ontology’s view that sensual objects become activated when in
contact with real objects (Harmon, 2015). In summary, 15 out of 15 research
participants reported feeling that their art therapist has a better grasp of
what they were feeling as a result of using art therapy; 12 out of 13 positively
regarded the artwork as a co-participant in the art session. 11 out of 14
participants felt that their artwork revealed meaningful information to
them. 10 out of 14 felt that the inner knowledge gained from the art therapy
experience was useful (refer to Excel spreadsheet).

Objects and Their Meanings
 I have demonstrated through my research, on
intersubjectivity, that art objects have a subjectivity of
their own and that their subjectivity is accessible in the
therapeutic context vis-à-vis the active interrogation by the
art therapist and client. It is the through the genuine
curiosity, to get to know the art object better, that
knowledge is revealed and made use of for conscious
present awareness in the client. Through this dynamic
process the intersubjectivity in the therapeutic relationship
is enhanced, and a stronger alliance is built between the
therapist and client.

Conclusion
 The art objects inform the intersubjectivity in the
therapeutic relationship when the therapist and client
grant the art object its own subjectivity and ontological
status. It is then that it is allowed to enter into the
relationship with other entities and become understood.
 The art objects enter the domain of the consulting room
where they are utilized by the therapist and the client to
bring into present conscious awareness that which has
been previously unknown. The Unthought Known
becomes the known (Bollas, 1989).

Acknowledgements and
Special Thanks
 Thank you to my colleagues at Edinboro for the
generous help in editing.
 Thank you to my dear friend and mentor, Kathryn
Rogers, for the many hours of listening and reading of
my work.
 Thank you to my family for tolerating my
preoccupation with this material.
 Thank you to Dr. Orr for encouraging me to think of
myself as a researcher!

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