Creativity In Psychotherapy: The Possibilities Of Its Utilization

Creativity in psychotherapy: Possibilities of its utilization

The field of psychology and psychotherapy is not an exception, and creativity may be applied

from different perspectives. First, children are encouraged to use their imagination and skills to express

their issues in the natural way, especially in communication. This approach allows us to form reliable

background for future treatment and, additionally, set up unconventional and appropriate therapeutic

approach tailored to each individual (Hoffmann, & Russ, 2012).

Innovative idea is to utilize child play as an efficient tool in psychotherapy since it allows

gaining more information about child's life, culture, and problems in a safe and accepting climate without

judgment. Therefore, therapy that utilizes child play provides appropriate environment for child's

reflection to develop cognitive skills and improve behavioural patterns. This paper aims to define

creativity in terms of mental disease treatment and to demonstrate the possibilities of its implementation

in clinical practice.

Creativity: Definition, types and models

Creativity can be defined from two perspectives, as a product through analysing creativity from

different criteria or as a process through exploring specific stages. Additionally, the types of creativity can

be distinguished based on different kinds of intelligence, individual abilities, or the field of creativity. For

a more efficient definition, it is also necessary to consider the relationship between creativity and

intelligence, which is usually influenced by other individual and contextual factors.

In an attempt to describe creativity among children, story-telling and divergent thinking are

usually considered in terms of their originality, fluency, novelty, and flexibility as its basic indicators.

According to Sahlin's hypothesis, creativity as a phenomenon consists of both procedural and strategic

elements and considers the physical and mental manipulation of equally important ideas. To understand

Sahlin’s hypothesis more precisely, it is important to discuss his idea of rule-based creativity, according

to which creativity is defined as the subsequent replacement and violation of a norm or rule that

emphasizes a given activity with a novel unconventional procedure or strategy. The questions regarding

when, how, and where children will manifest creativity are conditional on the kind of rule or norm that is

violated (Brinck, 2015).

Are children naturally creative or do they have to develop those abilities during their first years

of life or during school years? The discussions on creativity among children appear to be polarized. Some

theories base their assumptions on the view that creativity is a cultural and social phenomenon that

involves art, imagination, and play, the activities that start to develop in preschool years (Willson, 2015;

Saracho, 2012; Garaigordobil & Berrueco, 2011). This approach requires an educational system and

pedagogic staff to think of creativity first as a cognitive phenomenon, which belongs to the individual and

develops during school years, requiring training of logical reasoning and divergent thinking (Russ &

Fiorelli, 2010). The next approach is related to the previous one but considers creativity as a gift to

talented individuals. Those approaches have been developed in the psychology of personality, and they

are not going to be considered in this paper.

Glăveanu (2011) discussed two approaches, considering creativity as a cognitive phenomenon

that needs to be developed. One approach considers children as naturally active and interactive while the

second approach considers them as more receptive and passive. A combination of both approaches will

enhance the understanding of creativity and its development in a more complex way without searching for

contradiction between cognition and imagination. However, the most complex approach perceives

creativity as a result of interaction between a biological function of the brain, similar to other mental

processes, like attention, perception, and memory, and sociocultural factors, all of which benefit scientific

theory and practice.

Creativity can be defined as an open-ended process or strategy, applicable when ordinary or

algorithmic methods or procedures are not appropriate, and possible options are unclear. The situation is

complex and usually characterized by a lack of information and direct instructions, leading to great

difficulties in predicting the results. Consequently, a creative attitude or approach is not conventional and

does not guarantee a proper solution; instead, it uses guesses and heuristics that are often implicit.

Creativity is procedural and strategic

Mottweiler and Taylor (2014) explored the relation between creativity and divergent thinking

among preschool children. The researchers questioned the use of the narrative method as a criterion of

creativity measurement because of its relation to age. Specifically, the younger the children are, the less

reliable their story telling will be in terms of creativity, because young children have not gained

appropriate verbal proficiency to express their ideas and solutions correctly in a reliable and consistent

way. Furthermore, only some forms of creativity depend on verbal abilities; thus, creativity measurement

that relies on a verbal scale only may overlook other creative individuals (Brinck, 2015).

Additionally, some particular types of creativity are difficult to analyse and express in a verbal

way, for example, ability-based creativity that relies on bodily experience or knowledge with interactive,

situational, and embodied character (Brinck, 2007). Procedural creativity enables the use of contextual

information to develop cognitive schemes. On the contrary, strategic creativity is conceptual and context-

independent; therefore, it can release the subject from states that hinder free association and fluency.

Höffding (2014) observed that individuals with high coping skills, such as chess players, musicians, and

athletes, tend to apply a phenomenological approach and combine both absorption and reflection.

Perceptual information and visual and spatial reasoning provoke evaluative judgments directly

(Weller, Villejoubert, & Vallée-Tourangeau, 2011). The information that moves the creative processes in

one direction, as opposed to another, may not reach conscious awareness. Except for the perception and

sensory-motor information, affect plays a central role in procedural creativity. Rietvald (2008) explains

the unreflective skilful action of expert artisans in terms of the notion of situated normativity and argues

that a particular type of affective behaviour is essential for evaluation without reflection, described as a

reaction of appreciation in action.

It is difficult to deny that imaginative play with social role taking depends on the understanding

that people can take different perspectives and that their thoughts and experiences may differ (Singer &

Singer, 2005). Perhaps both creativity and play depend on some other, more general function that

supports flexibility. Moreover, it is not clear whether all forms of pretence involve role-play, and pretence

does not always concern living creatures.

Any physical or social play depends also on imagination and on foreseeing alternative,

sometimes quite complicated scenarios. For example, software designers, architects, developers of

computer games, and fashion designers are just a few examples of professionals who organize the

creative process around the manipulation of objects and ideas in space and time, physically or virtually,

guided by sensor and motor processes rather than conceptually (Brinck, 2007).

Torrance’s Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM) test acknowledges that

creativity can be processed and expressed through bodily actions and movement. The test is designed to

measure fluency, originality, and imagination, and it conceives of creativity as a form of divergent

thinking that involves perspective taking and perspective change;

Creativity and play

To understand children’s creativity, it is necessary to study their activity involving imagination,

originality and novelty in a natural way. Pretend or imaginative play in childhood has a great effect on

creativity in adulthood (Russ & Wallace, 2013). Children who are continually involved in everyday

creativity, also in situations that do not involve play, such as when finding a faster way to get home or

completing other everyday life activities in a different way, are likely to become more creative (Dudek,

2012;Saracho, 2012;Russ & Fiorelli, 2010). Play significantly affects creativity development, because it

involves creating cognitive content (beliefs or attitudes) and encourages exploring plenty of possible

scenarios related to both known and completely new events. In other words, any novel experience, way of

analysis, method, attitude or idea is essential to creativity.

Some studies have shown a correlation between play and creativity. Longitudinal studies

demonstrated that pretend play significantly increases the cognitive flexibility of individuals from a long-

term perspective (Play and the Art of Psychotherapy, 2014; Russ, 2004). Russ, Robins, and Christiano

(1999) discovered that the quality of imagination and fantasy in early pretend play could predict creativity

defined as divergent thinking over time independent of IQ. Another study conducted by Singer and

Lythcott (2004) found that encouraging children to pretend games during play time or as a part of the

curriculum resulted in enhanced imaginativeness and enhanced creativity indirectly. Additionally, some

other studies found that the experience of unstructured play has a positive influence on originality in

similar or related activity but less on flexibility or fluency, as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative

Thinking (Beretta & Privette, 1990).

According to the research conducted by Mottweiler and Taylor (2014), elaborated role-play can

be perceived as an early creativity indicator, although the correlation between it and performance on

creative tasks in preschool years has not been proven. Consequently, Mottweiler and Taylor developed a

creativity measurement, which includes 2 scales, storytelling, in which 4-5-year-old children needed to

complete a story, and a drawing, in which the children were drawing an imaginary person. The results

indicated that the children who were involved in an elaborated role-play had higher creativity scores on

both scales.

Glăveanu (2011) stressed that children can develop creativity more successfully through the

interaction with adults and experimentation or through any kind of play that involves also cultural norms

and symbols. He also emphasized that creativity develops over time and that its expression depends

proportionally on the surrounding sociocultural and family environment of the particular child.

It is necessary to remember the complex approach in creativity development, where educational,

sociocultural, and individual factors have to be considered, as they have basic influence on possibilities

and opportunities to enhance imagination, originality, specific abilities, or flexibility. It has to be

considered that creativity is defined in terms of not only originality, novelty, flexibility, and divergent

thinking, but also productivity and applicability. That is why the measurement of creativity has to be

complex and evaluated from different perspectives.

Creativity and problem solving

Problem solving as a specific task is strictly related to creativity. Researcher Sahlin (2001)

provided plenty of real life examples, which demonstrate the complex character of creativity and indicate

that creativity occurs in different spheres or situations. The first example involves Admiral George

Rodney who defeated the French in the battle of Les Saintes in 1782 by creating a successful strategy

based on his life experience that he formed in childhood while playing as a boy with toy boats in the

garden pond.

The next example concerns Theresa Berkley who became famous for the invention of the

“Berkley Horse”, a triangular frame to which a person can be tied in any desirable angle for flogging.

Sahlin (2001) described Berkley’s abilities to change her expectations and break the values of her time as

typical of creative people. Those examples demonstrate that creativity is purposive and deliberate and that

it requires possessing extensive knowledge or skills in the appropriate field. In all three examples, a

problem had to be solved or a question had to be answered; specific questions were, “How can the French

be defeated? How can I improve the competitiveness of my business by meeting the demands of the

buyers?”

Consequently, when analyzing creativity, it is possible to relate it in a wide context to problem

solving, which is approximate rather than exact and fixed, because it is unclear how it would be possible

to solve the problem and what kind of solution is the most acceptable. This way of conceiving creativity

minimizes the risk of making subjective, arbitrary, or premature assumptions about its nature.

Many models of the creative process include four phases: preparation or identifying the problem

and gathering information, incubation or association and restructuring of ideas, illumination or

experiencing insight while creating a solution, and verification or checking, ensuring the capability of a

chosen idea implementation (Aldous, 2007).

According to observation and general logic, divergent thinking needs to be used at the beginning

of the creative process to produce as many ideas as possible and then continue with convergent thinking

to select the most applicable and beneficial ideas. The creative problem solving approach was developed

as a systematic approach to creative thinking, and it includes six stages (6-diamonds model) (Courger,

1995 in Vidal, 2004), where the upper part of each diamond demonstrates the divergent sub-processes and

lower convergent ones.

Those steps are problem finding (identifying and choosing one most critical and general

problem; generating ideas about possible problematic situations), fact finding (detailing observation

during gathering facts and experiences), problem finding (going through the problem and thinking about

possibilities), idea finding (searching for various options, alternatives, approaches, methods etc.), solution

finding (analysing of ideas from different points of view along with consequences, reactions,

implications; selecting ideas and solutions), and acceptance finding (developing a plan for

implementation; making solutions more effective, attractive and strong). At each of those steps, some

creative sub-processes needed to appear, specifically problem finding: fluency, originality, flexibility,

judgment and evaluation; fact finding: analysis and evaluation; problem finding: synthesis; idea finding:

fluency, analysis, flexibility, originality and judgment; solution finding: synthesis, elaboration and

evaluation; and acceptance finding: synthesis, originality, flexibility, evaluation (Vidal, 2004).

Depending on the problem or situation, its size, or complexity, all of the abovementioned

creativity tools can be applied in relation to being proactive, more involved in activity, and simplifying a

person’s life. Considering life problems or situations as a cause for potential psychological problems,

creativity development among the young generation seems to be essential for preventing social or mental

diseases from spreading.

Social context and creativity enhancement

Creativity in the broadest definition means the general ability of a person to produce a new or

novel idea or solution. Creativity is among the significant values that compete in the production of

modern needs or expectations, which is why it may be considered a main value; a result of the entire

structure of other values both at the individual and social level (Hill, 2012). Furthermore, creativity is as

important as any other human quality in changing and reforming our world history.

Every type of society has some set of norms or rules regulating people’s behaviour. Social

conditions are decisive for creativity enhancement; however, they are not always conducive to the

development and expression of originality and individuality. Sociological studies have analysed so-called

open and closed societies, demonstrating a significant difference between them in terms of creativity. In

closed societies, the level of originality and non-stereotypical performance of the community is lower in

comparison with open societies. Closed societies are characterized by a strict system of rules, norms, and

taboo, where all aspects of life dominate through resistance to change, making the development of

originality and creativity impossible.

On the contrary, open societies do not support the absolute authority. They do not function

according to a system of norms or traditions; instead, they actively promote freedom and humanism,

which is why its individuals can think critically about any indicators, rules, and taboos, and thus make

decisions based on their experience, intelligence, personal attitude and values, and the like. As a result,

the so-called open society creates a background for change, development, improvement, and knowledge.

Accordingly, creativity and innovation become its vital tools. Consequently, the modern and actual need

for innovation encourages and improves the independence and creativity of each individual (Danescu,

2009).

The theory of cultural patterns, which considers several important values, such as structure,

individualization, and change, suggests that social factors play a significant role in the development of

creativity. According to this theory, societies valuing entrepreneurship and innovations are characterized

by a higher level of creativity, which tends to increase with increased giftedness. On the other hand,

growing and living in a society with a high capacity for change predicts possessing abilities to adjust or

adapt, which are strictly related to creativity.

Raising and educating children and making them creative in a social context (in family and at

school) enable their creative performance at work later. Therefore, it is extremely important for parents

and teachers to be aware of the relation of pedagogic methods and tools with the creative adaptation of

children in future life, and the relation between the ways of engagement and children's creativity or

success as individuals.

According to earlier theories, creativity was considered mainly as a hereditary gift occurring

among minorities, and as a result, the educational system is not obliged to be particularly involved in

creativity development. Some studies discovered and proved the complex character of creativity,

underlining the social context as a significant predisposition for its development and improvement.

Research on task types and teaching style has shown that monotonous and stereotypical activity needs to

be substituted with more advanced tasks requiring exploration, analysis, and production of unusual

innovative ideas and solutions of renewal. In this matter, it is important to cultivate innovative and critical

thinking, imagination, and fantasy, which has become a major task in the educational system.

This demands change in the mentality of teachers, their style, methods, and tools. The

relationship between students and teachers need to be more reluctant, democratic. Next, teaching must be

directed towards active interaction and participation in activities during the teaching process. Finally,

imagination capabilities and abilities, along with knowledge, reasoning, critical analysis, and other

important abilities, should be properly measured.

Educating and raising children needs to be achieved using the problem-solving method, adapting

to obstacles, enhancing continuous search, encouraging multiple options, and teaching coordination. As a

result, we can talk about individual progress and adaptation to the environment (Danescu, 2009); .;

Child-centred play therapy

Children’s play is an effective tool that psychologists can use in their practice (Play and the Art of

Psychotherapy, 2014; APT, 2008) as a creative approach, which increases professional skills and provides

additional information related to the clinical case. Play helps the child express and address his/her needs

and problems with the help of natural materials and tools, which can be extremely useful for children with

behavioral and emotional disorders (Willson, 2015). That is why treatment that incorporates play is

considered a valuable method of investigating all aspects of a child's life, including social, cultural, and

personal. Additionally such therapy guaranties a friendly, safe, and accepting environment that

encourages the child to express, and therapist to explore, his/her world, problems, issues, or difficulties in

a familiar way and without judgment (Ray, Stulmaker, & Lee, 2013). Therefore, therapy that utilizes

child’s play allows therapists to gather more information about their patients, cultures, problems, and

issues as well as search for potential solutions in relation to personal characteristics, like gender, age, and

others (Landreth, 2012; Ray, Lee, Meany-Walen, Carlson, Carnes-Holt, & Ware, 2013).

Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) was developed using Rogerian client-centered therapy

under the assumption that children have an innate ability to develop in a positive way in order to discover

their own potential in growth-promoting conditions. Clinical psychologists have to provide an appropriate

atmosphere in which children can freely express and explore their own thoughts, feelings, experiences,

and behaviors and at the same time monitor children’s abilities during this process of exploration. The

most known techniques that can be applied in CCPT are tracking or narrating the play, reflective listening

and setting boundaries (Landreth, 2012).

Following humanistic psychology principles creates an atmosphere of freedom, permissiveness,

and deep respect that allows the child to feel free to express his/her own thoughts and feelings completely

without taking responsibility for making changes. Consequently, child play is viewed as an efficient way

for children to express their own world while the therapist is responsible for following the scenario,

recognizing the feelings the child is expressing, and reflecting those feelings back in a manner that the

child can internalize (Landreth, 2012).

In summary, CCPT is extremely useful in clinical practice, providing opportunities for children

to explore thoughts, feelings, experiences, and cultural identity and develop decision-making, control, and

copying skills. This is achieved with non-judgmental acceptance of all aspects of the child’s life, which

allows him/her to discover, practice, and master potential solutions that can be adapted to life strategies

(APT, 2008). Consequently, the therapist needs to possess a wide range of materials because through

interaction with them, children can improve their cognitive and behavioural skills and capabilities, such

as self-control, coping, reflection, and inner resolution. As a result, children will be more effective in

adjusting to and improving more challenging areas of their life, such as learning and social interactions

(Ray, Armstrong, Warren, & Balkin, 2005; Davis & Pereira, 2014). Finally, CCPT offers a sufficient

opportunity for children to organize their real life experiences, which are usually abstract for them,

without relying on verbal approaches to communication, counselling, and treatment (Rouse1, Armstrong

& McLeod, 2015; Ray, Stulmaker, & Lee, 2013). In the broadest conclusion, CCPT creates a therapeutic

climate that combines diverse, valuable aspects to help the child understand his/her own issues and

develop skills and abilities that may help him/her adapt to everyday life situations and manage life

difficulties.