ATR-BC flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Art as therapy

Kramer's position that the creative process and the quality of the art product are themselves therapeutic, with the therapist supporting sublimation and mastery rather than interpreting unconscious content.

Art psychotherapy

Naumburg's position that artmaking releases unconscious material that becomes available for verbal exploration and interpretation within the therapeutic relationship.

Art therapy triad

Ulman's model of client, artwork, and therapist, in which the image acts as a third entity that can be examined and eventually owned by the client.

Expressive Therapies Continuum

A framework by Kagin and Lusebrink ordering media experience from kinesthetic and sensory, through perceptual and affective, to cognitive and symbolic, with creative synthesis integrating all levels.

Scribble stage

Lowenfeld's first stage, roughly ages two to four, marked by random then controlled marks that gradually become named and intentional representations.

Schematic stage

Lowenfeld's stage around ages seven to nine, when children use repeated symbols, a baseline, and consistent color choices for familiar objects and people.

Fluid versus resistive media

A media continuum from watercolor and finger paint, which loosen control and access affect, to clay and pencil, which offer resistance, containment, and cognitive structure.

FEATS

The Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale, which rates a standardized drawing on fourteen formal elements such as prominence of color, implied energy, and integration, each scored one to five.

Diagnostic Drawing Series

A standardized three-drawing protocol, using free drawing, tree, and feeling images on large paper with chalk pastels, scored with its published rating guide.

PPAT task

The standardized directive to draw a person picking an apple from a tree, held constant so formal variables can be compared across clients and over time.

Kinetic Family Drawing

A projective technique asking the client to draw family members doing something together, scored for actions, distances, barriers, and the client's identification.

Silver Drawing Test

Rawley Silver's normed instrument assessing cognition and emotional content through predictive drawing, drawing from observation, and drawing from imagination.

Description versus inference

The assessment rule that observable features of the artwork are reported separately from interpretive hypotheses, which must be corroborated with other clinical data.

Baseline administration

Repeated use of the same task and media at set intervals so that change can be attributed to treatment rather than to variation in the task.

Measurable art objective

A treatment plan statement naming an observable behavior, the art intervention and media, a time frame, and the criterion by which progress will be judged.

Trauma-informed sequencing

The principle that stabilization, grounding, and containment are established before any expressive or narrative processing of traumatic material is attempted.

Containment directive

A bounded art task, such as drawing a container or safe place, that helps a client manage overwhelming affect and restore a sense of control.

Bedside art therapy

Practice adapted to medical settings through single-session, low-mess, portable directives, attention to fatigue and pain, and coordination with the treatment team.

Continuing bonds

A grief framework in which the bereaved maintain an ongoing relationship with the deceased, supported by memorialization and legacy art tasks.

Termination review

A planned closing activity in which the client and therapist review the body of work produced in treatment to make gains visible and consolidate meaning.

Informed consent content

Disclosure of the nature of art therapy, confidentiality and its limits, storage and viewing of artwork, and the client's right to withdraw at any time.

Artwork as clinical record

The standard that client artwork is part of the clinical record and follows the same retention, storage, and release rules as written documentation.

Mandated reporting

The legal duty to report suspected abuse or neglect of a child, elder, or dependent adult, which overrides confidentiality and does not require client consent.

Display consent

Explicit written permission obtained without coercion before client artwork is exhibited, published, or used for education, with the right to withdraw later.

Scope of competence

The ethical boundary limiting practice to interventions for which the therapist has documented training and supervision, with referral when client needs exceed it.

Duty to protect

The legal obligation, triggered by credible threat of serious harm, to take protective steps such as warning, notifying authorities, or arranging evaluation as jurisdiction requires.

ATR versus ATR-BC

The ATR credential follows approved education and supervised experience; the ATR-BC requires passing the board certification examination, and both require continuing education for maintenance.

Supervision contract

A written agreement stating supervision goals, methods, frequency, evaluation criteria, and the boundaries of the supervisory relationship, reviewed at set intervals.

Discrimination model

Bernard's supervision framework addressing intervention skills, conceptualization, and personalization through the supervisor roles of teacher, counselor, and consultant.

Parallel process

The phenomenon in which dynamics from the therapy relationship are reenacted in supervision, addressed by naming the pattern and linking it to the client work.

Supervisory gatekeeping

The supervisor's ethical duty to evaluate professional behavior as well as clinical skill, documenting concerns and remediation plans when supervisees are not ready for independent practice.

Art-based supervision

Use of the supervisee's own image-making to illuminate countertransference and case dynamics, always paired with direct verbal case conceptualization.