Let's face it--the thought of a group of grown men who happen to have been Jihad extremists, sitting around a table making drawings does beg reaction. Because art making is viewed by the public as something frivolous and perhaps even childish, it seems ironic that a group of criminals would be invited to participate in regular drawing and painting sessions as part of required rehab efforts. But part of the media reaction is the fault of art therapy itself, a field that confounds its own definitions of practice and methodology. To the public, it is unclear if art therapy is an activity therapy, a bona fide form of psychotherapy, or just a happy-making pastime. As I mentioned in a recent blog on the critical lack of evidence-based research in the field, the profession can no longer rest easy on anecdotal case studies, consumer proclamations that art "heals," or "art therapist" as a "hot job" by Careerbuilder.com back in 2007. With healthcare reform looming, like any other form of mental health treatment art therapy will have to prove its effectiveness in order to join the ranks of reimbursable services.

In a previous 2008 post, "Jihad Rehab: Can Art Therapy Cure Terrorism," I cited the work of Dr. Awad Alyami, art therapist at King Fahad Medical City who runs the art therapy component of the Saudi rehab effort. In all fairness, Alyami has dedicated himself to a task that I or many other mental health professionals would never be able to commit to undertaking. Working with perpetrators of violent crimes--whether they are murders, sex offenders, or the like--is not an easy business, personally or professionally. The current literature on success through psychological interventions with such populations is minimal at best, particularly when participants are given a go-to-therapy-or-stay-in-prison option, are court-ordered or are incarcerated.

Finally, I found myself embarrassed to read a statement that the national art therapy organization issued in response to the media frenzy, noting that Dr. Alyami "is not a member" of their American organization, even though he clearly is a citizen of Saudi Arabia and not an American [although educated at the University of Pennsylvania in psychology and art therapy]. I wondered, why mention this at all? Clearly, the public relations problem is not with Alyami's earnest research on art as a form of rehabilitation with perpetrators, data that actually has contributed valuable information to the understanding of rehabilitation and art therapy. Alyami is one of the few researchers in the field of art therapy who is dedicated to discerning if indeed art therapy has an impact on perpetrators of violent crimes; he is well-known to be a passionate supporter and investigator for the field. The real publicity problem is the lack of substantive knowledge on whether or not art therapy has a chance in heck of working to rehab the criminal mind, including known terrorists. On that account, there is little evidence to say that any forms of treatment [psychotherapy, religious re-education, or free cars, homes, and jobs, post-rehab] are working.

Let's learn something from the short-lived media blitz on the alleged failure of art therapy to cure two terrorists. First, art therapy did not cause a failed bomb attempt on Northwest Flight 253. And most importantly, there is no form of rehabilitation strategy yet identified that will reliably halt extremists from continuing to carry out their violent mission. Let's ask the media to now redirect its attention to what clearly can halt terrorism--more effective profiling, watch lists, and screening devices--and leave the paints and crayons alone.

© 2009 Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC

www.cathymalchiodi.com

Visit the growing community of art therapists from around the world at the International Art Therapy Organization [IATO]. One world, many visions...working together to create an inclusive and sustainable future for art therapy.

Subscribe to my Twitter and get the latest art therapy news at http://twitter.com/arttherapynews.