A critical literature review: deconstructing narratives of trauma in art therapy with young people

Background: This paper addresses the need for critical reflection on how art therapists position themselves and represent their work in the context of diverse frameworks for understanding young people’s adverse life experiences, particularly in relation to the prevalence of trauma discourses. Aims: The study examined how art therapists have represented in the literature their practice and research with young people (12-18 years old) experiencing adversity, from 2000 to 2019. Methods: Employing Critical Interpretive Synthesis (Dixon-Woods et al., 2006), 26 theoretically-sampled articles were systematically reviewed through an interpretive, inductive and recursive process. Results: Art therapists commonly use trauma as a lens to conceptualise young people’s diverse adverse life experiences, with variations based on their theoretical and philosophical orientations. These variations influence how they perceive young people’s needs and art therapy aims. The study also highlights varying levels of creativity and self-agency that young people express in art therapy, emphasising the importance of art therapists’ flexible and tailored approaches. Conclusions: The importance of art therapists’ critical awareness when framing and working with young people’s complex life experiences and presentations to avoid stigmatisation and disempowerment is underscored. Implications for practice/policy/future research: The study suggests that art therapists’ critical awareness that can enable collaborative practice and researchwith young people with adverse life experiences. It encourages more research into and cultivating art therapists’ conscious awareness of their choice of theoretical alignment and its implications. Additionally, it encourages future research to understand young people’s own conceptualisations of their lived experiences and their perspectives on the ongoing relevance and meaning of art therapy. Plain-language summary: This study sought to present the key findings of a