The Case for Case Studies: Art psychotherapy as a feminist methodology with women in prison

Abstract

The castigation and criminalising of women is a systemic catastrophe that cannot be understood only through a standardised positivist methodology. Forensic art psychotherapy case studies seek to utilise stories and images to reframe misogynistic public perceptions of criminalised women as “unnatural” and “monstrous” by visualising their experience as complex and layered. This paper advocates for the inherent importance of case studies as a significant feminist methodology in understanding the value of art psychotherapy, the fundamental importance of ethical considerations including consent, and the explicit acknowledgment of power, prejudice and human fallibility. It concludes with a criminalised individual’s reflections on her own art psychotherapy experience in prison. This privileges her voice and evidences the value of feminist research methodologies that include listening, embodiment, relationality, reflexivity, emotions and intersectionality, as critical additions to classic case study psychodynamic interpretation.

Key words

Art psychotherapy, women, prison, reflexivity, embodiment, emotion