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EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION AMONG CREE INDIANS: THE ROLE OF PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MINDEDNESS. By NADIA FERRARA. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999. 128 pp.
Reviewed by PHOEBE FARRIS (formerly Dufrene (Powhatan)), PhD, the author/editor of Art Therapy and Psychotherapy: Blending Two Therapeutic Approaches (Taylor and Francis), Voices of Color. Art and Society in the Americas (Humanities Press/Prometheus), and Women Artists of Color: A Bio-critical Sourcebook to 20th Century Artists in the Americas (Greenwood). An associate professor of Visual and Performing Arts/Women's Studies at Purdue University, Dr Farris is frequently sought as a consultant on Native American art and culture.
Ferrara's book raises questions about whether Cree Indians, and other indigenous peoples who tend to be nonverbal, should be classified by mental health practitioners as "alexithymic.," i.e., unable or reluctant to verbally express feelings, imagery, or fantasy, and therefore unsuitable for psychotherapy. As related by Ferrara and other clinicians, the concept of psychological mindedness -a patient's ability to perceive and describe relationships between thoughts and emotions in order to understand behavior-has traditionally been thought necessary for an effective therapeutic relationship. If Cree and other Native Americans do not meet these therapeutic "requirements" or "standards," are there other, more suitable alternatives, such as art therapy? By raising these and similar questions, and by challenging the "objectivity" of terms such as alexithymia and...