2nd Edition

Art Therapy Theories A Critical Introduction

By Susan Hogan Copyright 2026
248 Pages 17 Color & 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

248 Pages 17 Color & 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

248 Pages 17 Color & 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Art therapists work with a range of distinct philosophical and theoretical underpinnings, but prior to the first edition there had been no single book to offer an overview of these theories. Art Therapy Theories provides an introductory, non-partisan overview of art therapy theories outlining the following therapy approaches: Cognitive Behavioural Art Therapy Solution-Focused Brief... Read more

Foreword to the first edition by Diane Waller OBE, President of the British Association of Art Therapists 

Preface to the second edition 

Acknowledgements 

Biographical Note 

1.     Introduction 

2.     Cognitive behavioural art therapy 

3.     Psychoanalytic art therapy 

4.     Analytical (Jungian) art therapy 

5.     Gestalt art therapy 

6.     Person-centred art therapy 

7.     Mindfulness art therapy 

8.     Group-interactive art therapy: a theoretically integrative model 

9.     Feminist approaches to art therapy 

10.   Social art therapy: art therapy as social action

11.   Art therapy and participatory arts as a social science research method 

12.  Intersectional art therapy: how does an understanding of intersectionality change our understanding of selfhood?

13.  A narrative approach: the Power Threat Meaning Framework

14.  Whole systems approaches: the arts in health and wellbeing 

A critical glossary of terms 

Bibliography 

Index 

Biography

Susan Hogan is Professor in Arts & Health at the University of Derby (previously Professor of Art Therapy and Cultural Studies). She has written extensively on the relationship between the arts and insanity, and the role of the arts in rehabilitation, particularly in relation to women.

Praise for the 1st Edition

‘Hogan offers an innovative and accessible contribution to the literature that challenges the way we conceptualize art therapy theory and practice today.’

Donna Betts, PhD, ATR-BC, board president, the American Art Therapy Association; Research Professor, George Washington University Graduate Art Therapy Program

Art Therapy Theories by Susan Hogan, is the book that I, as the executive director of an art therapy training program and a professor, have been waiting for.’

Helene Burt, DA, RCAT, ATR, (Doctorate of Arts in Art Therapy, NYU) executive director, Toronto Art Therapy Institute; editor of Art Therapy and Postmodernism: Creative Healing Through a Prism

'I found the book really enlightening and strongly recommend it.'

Diane Waller OBE, President of the British Association of Art Therapists, from the foreword