Can I get some research in here?

Up to this point, the Living Arts blog might seem paint a very sunny picture of arts therapies – happy, supportive places where people can be free to express themselves and experience personal and social growth by dancing, painting or acting. While this “painted picture” is accurate, hopefully my inclusion of photographs in the blog will illustrate that arts therapies are true, professional undertakings of people working together and not just a group of new age hippies getting in touch with their “inner selves.”

For all of arts therapies’ positive attributes and successes, there are undoubtedly people (maybe even you yourself!) who believe that the therapies’ only supporters are those “new age hippies.” Interestingly enough, when I began to search for articles criticizing arts therapies, I failed to find any!

When I mentioned this to Anna (a theater student interested drama therapy), she brought up an interesting point: almost all of the research done in arts therapies has been qualitative – not quantitative – research. The result? Even critics – who might disagree with arts therapies’ practices – have no solid, universal facts to challenge. Because the majority of the research and articles about arts therapies have involved small groups or case studies, it is impossible to generalize their findings to use in large-scale, theoretical arguments.

Anna also pointed out that this lack of research is actually the beginning of a vicious circle hampering the expansion of creative arts therapies. More extensive research, of course, requires funding. Funding, however, requires hard-tested support and facts produced by research. And bam, arts therapies researchers are right back where they started.