Lim Yang-Shen

This thesis is a qualitative, epistemological study of the creative responses resulting from the art therapy triangular relationship.

Encapsulated in a single case vignette, it explored how the dynamics of the three actors of the triangular relationship—the client, art therapy trainee, and art—elicited creative responses in support of a client’s rehabilitation and reintegration goals. These observed dynamics took place within a Singapore Community Based Programme (CBP) supporting justice-involved individuals living with substance misuse. In so doing, the thesis added to the knowledge base of art psychodynamic psychotherapy interventions within a CBP context.

The thesis also served as an explicit study of the creative effects of such three-way interplay, constituting the dynamics of the triangular relationship. This thesis documented that the triangular relationship gave the client the opportunity to play creatively, mentalise and regulate effect, and connect with the trainee by disclosing uncovered memories and utilising symbols.

The client was able to make use of salient moments during therapy for insight orientation, comprehension and sensemaking. The client’s engagement of prosocial activities, affect and emotional regulation, and reflective introspection provided the potential to support his rehabilitation and reintegration journey. Moreover, the client’s art and actions prompted the trainee to analyse his countertransference so that he could find the resilience to support the client as the latter’s journey progressed.

The Good Life employs the ancient, enduring art of batik to convey thought and meaning through metaphor.

By using wax and dye, the acts of melting, resisting, revealing, and transforming the cloth mirror the discomfort, jubilation, and ambivalence of inner change. The slow, attentive labour of batik reflects this unfurling, purposeful journey of transformation.

The tapestry’s pastoral scene is an ode to universal human needs—attachment, nourishment, and momentum. By embodying these themes in the artistic process and outcome, The Good Life personifies the hope of lives transformed, re-authored beyond isolation and dependency, replaced by growth, reconciliation, and reintegration.