The Vasarhelyi Method of Child Art Psychotherapy in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: a stakeholder survey of clinical supervisors

ObjectivesThe Vasarhelyi Method of Child Art Psychotherapy (CAP) is a largely understudied psychotherapeutic modality. This study aims to describe the Vasarhelyi Method of CAP and to describe a stakeholder survey of the views and attitudes of CAP placement supervisors towards CAP among various Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) teams nationwide.MethodsA phone- and letter-based survey of 17 CAP placement supervisors who oversee CAP masters students attached to CAMHS teams was performed. A questionnaire was designed enquiring about their experiences with CAP in their clinic and their thoughts on the validity of CAP in various conditions/patient demographics. Participants received written correspondence and were asked to return the survey by post; this was followed up by a telephone call to complete missing surveys.ResultsIn all, 12 (70.6%) complete surveys were returned. Of the 12 respondents, all considered the CAP student to be a valuable member of the team. In total, 10 respondents (83.33%) stated they would make regular use of the service if it were made available to them. With regard to the therapy itself, nine respondents (75%) believed it was better for internalising symptoms than externalising symptoms. Depression, anxiety, attachment difficulties, trauma, deliberate self-harm and possible psychosomatic illnesses are the conditions viewed as receiving the most benefit from CAP. No gender difference was reported.ConclusionCAP is considered an effective modality and valuable addition to a psychotherapeutic repertoire. Further, more extensive studies are needed in this field.