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.
Date: Wednesday 25th June, 2025, 4pm-6pm
Location: The Dax Centre, 30 Royal Parade, Parkville
More information can be found here.
Poster presentation: THE TRANSITION FROM THE INSTITUTIONAL TO THE COMMUNITY MODEL OF CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISABILITIES IN ROMANIA AND THE ROLE OF ART THERAPY PROGRAMS
Author: Valentin-Veron TOMA, M.D., Ph.D
Location: 2025 WPA World Congress pf Psychiatry in Prague
Event: WPA Art and Psychiatry Section Meeting, WPA Zone 15
Date: 4-6 December, 2025
Location: Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur, India
Theme: “Narratives of the Mind: Bridging Art, Psychiatry and Literature”
Website: TBC
Event: World Congress of Psychotherapy
Date: June 1-4, 2026
Location: New York City, at the UN headquarters and at CUNY
Theme: "Psychotherapy, Mental Health and Human Rights’’
The call for proposals will likely be open in March 2025 and close on 1 October 2025.
For further information see (still in progress) here.
"Psiquatría y Cultura"
by Otto Dörr (2024)
This 308-page book with ISBN 978-956-314-591-5, was published by Ediciones UDP, and contains a collection of articles and essays on the topics of psychiatry and culture. Otto Dörr is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Chile, Emeritus Professor at Diego Portales University, and Visiting Professor at Heidelberg University and the Universities of Leipzig and Madrid. In 2018, he received the National Prize of Medicine.
You can read the essay "PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE LABYRINTH AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE MANNERISTIC ART AND THE SCHIZOPHRENIC WORLD" by Section member, Otto Dörr here.
The Museum of the Images of the Unconscious
The Museum of the Images of the Unconscious in Rio de Janeiro was founded by psychiatrist Nise da Silveira. Rejecting invasive treatments, she pioneered art therapy inspired by Jungian psychology. The Museum holds the world’s largest collection of artworks by psychiatric patients, offering a powerful window into the symbolic worlds of those living with mental illness. Read more about the museum here.
In 2022, the Association for Creative Arts Therapies in Australia, New Zealand and Asia (ANZACATA) released their inaugural report into their global research findings, specifically pertaining to the efficacy of creative arts therapies. Situated within quantitative and mixed methods research, ANZACATA has now updated the research summary as the evidence base for the efficacy of creative arts therapies is growing all the time. This new edition summarises more than 55 gold standard research articles from 2020 to 2025. For those who wish to purchase the report it can be obtained from the website anzacata.org.
Bringing Psychotherapy Closer to Medical Students:
Bringing Psychotherapy Closer to Medical Students: the Experience of Revamping an Educational Program in Brazil by Prof. Gustavo A. M. Bezerra, Institute of Psychiatry, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazi
WHO Report on the Evidence base for arts and health interventions
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.
You can read a review of this book by Jennifer Harrison (Chair, WPA Section for Art and Psychiatry) here
Therapeutic Arts in Pregnancy, Birth and New Parenthood
edited by Professor Susan Hogan
Mehr Hirn in die Politik - written by Hans-Otto Thomashoff
UN’ESTETICA ESTATICA
Persistenze visionarie dal misticismo storico femminile all’arte terapia - written by Gregorio Merlin and Federica Vettori; CLEUP, 2007.
An Ecstatic Aesthetic: Visionary persistence from historical female mysticism to art therapy - written by Gregorio Merlin and Federica Vettori; CLEUP, 2007.
The text of this fascinating book compares the descriptions of the visions made by mystical nuns with the images produced by anorexic patients in an Art Therapy atelier. The elements initially considered common between the two groups were a strong tendency to introversion, an ascetic tension and the renunciation of food. The research has led to the definition of common elements represented above all by peculiar colours and shapes. The colour red, the colour black in the sense of “nothing”, the circle and the sphere, almost abstract human figures in an attempt to overcome the limits of the body. These themes were significantly more recurrent in the graphic production of anorexic patients than in other pure pathologies observed in the specific Art Therapy groups. Analysis indicated the presence of a common character in both the religious who have left written evidence of their visions (XI-XVII century), and in the contemporary anorexic patients. The conclusions allowed the authors to reflect on the organic hypothesis of the origin of images and on the hypothesis of common perceptions, sensations and fantasies expressed in different creative forms, despite the fact that between the first and the second there is a period of time that can be calculated in centuries.
Gregorio Merlin, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, since 1986 has worked with Art Therapy in the treatment of adult mental disorders. Since 1991 he has led specific Art Therapy groups at the ‘Parco dei Tigli’ nursing home in Teolo (PD). Author of articles and publications, he has held conferences and courses in Art Therapy. In 1996 one of his works was presented at the X World Congress of Psychiatry in the session held by Vittorino Andreoli. From 2006 to 2009 he held an Art Therapy course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.
Federica Vettori graduated in Disciplines of Art, Music and Entertainment at the University of Padua with a thesis on Iconology and Iconography.
The Dax Poetry Collection - Unusual Work Essay
by Dr Jennifer Harrison (Chair, Section for Art and Psychiatry). Read more here .
Art In/Sane exhibition
by Dr Valentin-Veron Toma (Member of the Section for Art and Psychiatry). Read more here.
Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst, Professor Rainer Holm-Hadulla, published his book The Art of Counselling and Psychotherapy, in first edition, with Routledge (Karnac Books) in 2004. Holm-Hadulla is concerned with counselling and psychotherapy and, particularly, with how these modalities are effective in promoting the creativity of clients. Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla is a professor of psychiatry and psychotherapy at Heidelberg University. He developed a dialectical theory of creativity and its practical applications as a fellow of the Centers of Excellence for Advanced Studies at Cologne and Heidelberg Universities. Among many other books, Holm-Hadulla’s Goethe’s Path to Creativity was published by Routledge in 2019. This book has been translated into Spanish, Italian and Persian and is available in kindle, hardback and paperback versions. Professor Holm-Hadulla is a member of the World Psychiatry Association’s Section for Art and Psychiatry.
Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst, Professor Rainer Holm-Hadulla, published The Recovered Voice – Tales from Practical Psychotherapy in English with Routledge in 2017. Using case reports, Holm-Hadulla demonstrates how therapeutic success can be achieved with a flexible integration of scientific methods. The focus is on individuals in social context, together with their various biographies, life situations and creative potentialities. The narratives revolve around an ‘ABCDE’ model and highlight the following aspects of modern psychotherapy: therapeutic alliance, behaviour change, cognitive reflection, psychodynamic analysis and existential understanding. A Spanish edition will be published soon.
Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst, Professor Rainer Holm-Hadulla, published Psicoterapia Integrativa: un modello interdisciplinare attraverso tredici racconti di pratica psicoterapeutica, in Italian translation with Mimesis Editions in 2022.
Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst, Professor Rainer Holm-Hadulla, published Integrative Pychotherpaie with Psychosozial-Verlag in 2021. The first edition of Integrative Psychotherapy—An Interdisciplinary Model Based on 13 Practical Cases was published in English under the title The Recovered Voice—Tales from Practical Psychotherapy. This second edition, in extended version, was published in German and Italian.
Intelligence – Theories and Applications, co-edited by Professor Rainer Holm-Hadulla, Joachim Funke and Michael Wink, was published by Springer in 2022. This book provides interdisciplinary connections to intelligence and presents research from evolutionary biology, mathematics, artificial intelligence, medicine, psychology, cultural studies, economy, political science and philosophy.
Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst, Professor Rainer Holm-Hadulla, published The Creative Transformation of Despair, Hate, and Violence: What we can learn from Madonna, Mick Jagger & Co, with Springer International in 2023. Using selected examples of creative people, Holm-Hadulla encourages us to unleash our own creative and social potential. We become acquainted with prominent musicians and the major tenets of creativity: talent, ability, motivation, resilience and favourable environments. You can access the book here or here.
"Collections in psychopathological art and art therapy in social services"
(RAO, Romania) by Toma, Valentin-Veron; Dorneanu, Oana; Tita, Marius (2024).
This bilingual book in electronic form has kindly been made available to the WPA Section of Art and Psychiatry website by Professor Valentin-Veron Toma, medical anthropologist and senior researcher at the ‘Francisc I. Rainer’ Institute of Anthropology of the Romanian Academy. Produced and distributed by RAO, co-financed by Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB within the Program, with a cover illustration by Nicolas Papagheorghe, the book contains art works exhibited at the ARCUB Gabroveni Gallery in 2024. The project ’Through art therapy to the soul of the voiceless – mental disorders in the urban environment’, was a groundbreaking initiative carried out by the Entuziart Association in collaboration with Art In/Sane in 2024. Many thanks to all the artists.
You can access the book here.
