Art & Psychiatry
Home / Sections / Find a Section / Art & Psychiatry
About
The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) has engaged with patients' art since its inaugural congress in Paris in 1950, at the height of public interest in outsider art. The Section for Art and Psychiatry was formally established in 1983, as the Psychopathology of Expression, and changed to the Section of Art and Psychiatry when Dr. Hans-Otto became Section Secretary in 1999.
The Section’s work includes the analysis of art and the advancement of art therapy. The Section, one of the oldest within the WPA, has a strong international membership and seeks to bring together mental health practitioners who are interested in exploring the conversation between art and mental health in our global communities.
Section Officers
Chair:
Jennifer
Harrison
(Australia)
MB.BS., FRANZCP, Certificate Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Consultant Child and Youth Neuropsychiatrist,
Manager of the Dax Poetry Collection.
Address: Alfred CYMHS, 2nd Floor, 999 Nepean Highway, Moorabbin VIC 3189, Australia.
Tel.: work: 61 (0) 3 8552 0555; mobile: 61 (0) 4 29637395.
Honorary Chair:
Hans-Otto Thomashoff
(Austria)
Dr. Phil. Dr. Med
Previous Chair, WPA Section for Art and Psychiatry
Wien/Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43-1-5334100, Fax: 0043-1-5139437
Email: dr@thomashoff.de
Co-Chair:
Ekaterina
Sukhanova
(USA)
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs,
City University of New York.
Address: 205 E 42nd St. #940, New York, NY 10017 USA.
University tel.: +1-646-664-8054, fax 646-664-2958.
Email: ekaterina.sukhanova@cuny.edu
Secretary:
Pia Brous
MB.BS., BMed Sci, MPM, FRANZCP, Certificate Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
Teacher, Master’s course in Systemic and Family Therapy, Australian Catholic University
Member Mental Health Tribunal of Victoria, which monitors the human rights of compulsory psychiatric patients.
Email: pbrous@bigpond.net.au
>> Please click here to see the Section Members list.
Recommended Reading
The first-ever report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the evidence base for arts and health interventions. The Health Evidence Network (HEN) Synthesis Report maps the global academic literature, referencing over 900 publications, including 200 reviews covering over 3000 further studies. As such, the report is the most comprehensive evidence review of arts and health to date. A scoping review published in 2019 discussing research by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Read the report here.
Unhinged: On Jitterbugs, Melancholics and Mad-Doctors
Dr. Guislain Museum Ghent
Hannibal Publishing (English edition available)
This wonderful book outlines the history the Dr. Guislain Museum, Ghent, Belgium. From the back cover of Unhinged: ‘Madness is what disturbs us, throws us off balance and leads us to the edge of normality. But where does norm end and chaos begin? And who decides where the boundary lies? In five essays, this richly illustrated book, based on the collection presentation of the same name, explores the boundaries of the traditional and looks for sense in madness. Andrew Scull wrote the foreword.’ The book was reviewed in recording by Dr Jennifer Harrison, Chair of the WPA Art and Psychiatry Section, for the WPA Congress, Bangkok 2022.
Therapeutic Arts in Pregnancy, Birth and New Parenthood - edited by Professor Susan Hogan
Mehr Hirn in die Politik - written by Hans-Otto Thomashoff