Client attachment to therapist and the experience of artistic creation

Background Attachment dynamics play a key role in emotional safety and exploration. Attachment shapes the therapeutic relationship and influences how clients engage with art materials.Aims The study aim was to gain insight in how clients’ attachment to their therapist relates to their own experience of art making and therapists’ understanding of art’s function within the therapeutic process.Methods Utilising a complex mixed methods design to integrate both client and therapist voices, 81 student clients completed self-report measures assessing attachment to the therapist (CATS), perceived value of art therapy (SERATS), and experience of art making (ABI). Sixteen early career art therapists completed a measure evaluating the contribution of art to the therapeutic process (FAAT). Qualitative analysis examined therapist journals, focusing on clients with the highest and lowest attachment anxiety.Results Secure attachment was positively associated with perceived benefits and enjoyment of artmaking, whereas avoidant attachment was linked to lower engagement. Anxious attachment was unrelated to clients’ reports. In the first year only, higher attachment anxiety was associated with therapists perceiving art as more meaningful. Journal analysis indicated that therapists working with highly anxious clients reported stronger maternal and protective feelings and described these clients as more engaged in artmaking.Conclusions Client attachment to the therapist shapes artistic engagement. Art making plays an active role in the therapeutic relationship influenced by the client's need for emotional safety, closeness, or independence.Implications Findings highlight the need for therapist self-reflexivity and emphasise integrating relational attachment dynamics into art therapy training and clinical practice.Plain-language summary This study combined surveys and written reflections to explore how clients’ emotional bonds (attachment) with their art therapist relate to their experience of making art in therapy. The researchers explored whether a client’s sense of safety and closeness, worry, or distance and avoidance toward the therapist was related to how clients used art in art therapy and how both clients and therapists understand the use of art in treatment.The study included 81 university students who took part in short-term art therapy with trainee art therapists. Clients completed surveys about their relationship with their therapist and their experience of making art, including how well it helped them express emotions, manage their feelings, and enjoy the process of therapy. Therapists evaluated the roles of art in therapy and kept journals about their reactions during treatment.Over two years, clients who felt secure and connected to their therapist were more likely to report that making art in therapy was meaningful and enjoyable. Clients who felt distant or avoidant were less likely to have these positive experiences. Feelings of anxiety about the therapist relationship were not consistently linked to positive or negative experiences with art. In the first year of the study only, therapists were more likely to see art as having strong therapeutic value for clients with high relationship anxiety about the relationship. Therapists described these clients as deeply engaged in artmaking and emotionally expressive. They also worried that the clients showed dependency and fear of separation. Therapists reported feeling caregiving and protective toward clients with high relationship anxiety, sometimes along with greater professional confidence.Overall, the findings suggest that clients’ connection to their therapist may affect how art materials are used and experienced in art therapy. Artmaking may serve not only to express thoughts and feelings but also as a space where feelings of safety, closeness, and independence are worked through. The study highlights the importance of paying attention to attachment patterns, and art therapists reflecting on their own reactions in relationship to their clients.