The therapeutic nature of art in self reparation

While psychoanalysts have extensively explored the interplay between art and artist, few have examined the functions of art for the patient-participant observer or patient-producer. Art references made by patients during therapy can be reparative to the damaged self. Klein's concept of reparation to the object is expanded upon in order to understand the ways in which the patient makes reparation to his self. This paper focuses on two specific reparative functions (Oxford Dictionary, 1926) that the art source brings to bear on the patient's self: (1) "the restoration or renewal of a thing or part." As the patient reparatively integrates repressed impulses and/or the grandiose self, he comes to experience himself in a renewed way as a whole object who is better able to regulate his self-esteem. (2) "the restoration of a person." Once the patient develops the capacity to maintain a more-or-less stable self and object representation, he may then be ready to reparatively adapt to higher order transformations of self involved in creativity. This paper attempts to demonstrate that the analyst, sensitized to the reparative possibilities inherent in art sources, can therapeutically utilize this material both to facilitate the removal of resistances and to help the patient developmentally attain and maintain a well-regulated, adaptive self.