Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination

A pioneering art therapist extolls the arts as a powerful tool in psychotherapy, describing how activating the imagination can heal the mind, heart, and soul

The medicine of the artist, like that of the shaman, arises from his or her relationship to “familiars”—the themes, methods, and materials that interact with the artist through the creative process.

“Whenever illness is associated with loss of soul,” writes Shaun McNiff, “the arts emerge spontaneously as remedies, soul medicine.”

Art a...