Photography as Therapy.

Image making, like writing and speaking, is a carrier of ideas. This paper presents photography as therapy, a useful concept for advocates of humanistic education. The paper shows that Western civilization, due to its preoccupation with science, technology, and commerce, enhances and promotes left-hemispheric brain functions (verbal, analytical, and sequential functions), while it downgrades or neglects right-hemispheric functions (intuitive, holistic, spacial functions). In effect, students are being "educated lopsidedly." The paper concludes that, to promote "balanced thinkers," who can then become "balanced doers," educational activities (such as photography) need to be integrated with the rest of the school curriculum, resulting in more-complete individuals functioning in harmony with their environments. (RL)