The title “therapy” and what do you do with it as a child? Recollections of being in child expressive arts group therapy

Abstract

The complexity of children’s entrance into mental health treatment has been the growing focus of much recent research. However, little attention has been given to the exploration of this phenomenon from the clients’ point of view. This study aimed to gain understanding of the experience of entering therapy as a child through examination of the recollections of adult former clients who had participated as children in expressive arts group therapy (EAGT). Semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted with 20 adult former child therapy clients who had participated in EAGT for at least 1year. Two major themes were revealed: one concerning participants’ perceptions of the reasons for being in therapy as children and the other concerning their recollections and perception of their attitudes toward the idea of being in therapy. These two themes point to the central role of social, emotional, and cognitive developmental factors in the establishment of attitudes toward enrollment in psychotherapy, highlighting the difference between adults and children. These findings correspond with other studies in this area, adding a presentation of the experience from the client’s perspective.