In psychotherapy clients sometimes experience breakthrough moments - profound moments in which their world and how they view themselves is changed for ever. But what exactly occurs during such moments? In Breakthrough Moments in Arts-Based Psychotherapy the author shares her very personal journey to discover what might be happening at these pivotal moments and demonstrates their importance for clients' change processes. Filled with examples from her own practice, the book dips into the worlds of chaos and complexity theory, neuroscience, quantum physics, and theories of change, in order to show how the use of arts-media in psychotherapy - visual images and drawing, drama and music, sand-tray and enactment - can encourage the arrival of these dramatic breakthrough moments. The aim of this unique book is to shine a spotlight for the first time on a deeply profound aspect of arts-based psychotherapy in an accessible and engaging way.

Kathleen A. Laughlin is Professor of History at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. She is the author of Women’s Work and Public Policy: A History of the Women’s Bureau, US Department of Labor, 1945-1970.

Jacqueline L. Castledine is a core faculty member of the University Without Walls program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she teaches interdisciplinary studies.