van Manen의 해석학적 현상학을 적용한 섭식장애 초기성인의 미술치료 체험의 본질

Abstract

This study investigates what young adults with eating disorders experience from art therapy programs, and what is the meaning and essence of their experiences. Therefore, research questions are divided into two; 'what does young adults with eating disorders experience from art therapy' and 'what is the meaning and essence of their art therapy experiences'. In this paper, qualitative research is used in order to understand the inner side of young adults with eating disorders in-depth, and, specifically, van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology is adopted to reveal the meaning structure of participants who are suffering from eating disorders. A research methodology of van Manen aims in-depth understanding of human experience through various phenomenological data, and is mainly interested in the human life-world where lived experience is originated. van Manen argues that poetry, literary texts, phrases, and works of art are significant data which can construct vivid description of lived experience. In this context, the participants' art works, drawings and face-to-face talks altogether were dealt as significant data for phenomenological description in disclosing the structure of experience. In addition, the paper explores how van Manen's research methodology can be grafted on art therapy, and, as a result, it schematizes the hermeneutic circle in the process of art therapy. In the study, participants were 6 young adults, aged 22~25, suffering from eating disorders, and 10 sessions of art therapy treatments followed by face-to-face talks in post session were conducted. As a result, 5 essential themes were drawn from the entire session program; , , , , and . However, the participants did not experience these essential themes consecutively. They did commonly experience recognition, expression, confusion, acceptance, and change, but it did not start from or finish to a specific element. Every elements were independent but closely connected, and flexibly jumping to another. As experience cumulates during the 10 sessions, the participants reacted flexibly to what they experienced at each session, and got further insights. Media used in 10 sessions let the participants look into themselves just at cognitive level, or sometimes led them to deeper understanding. Therefore, a therapist should choose whether to wait or challenge a client, while considering the nature of each medium as well as the client's status. For the participants with eating disorders, art therapy was like a tool with which they were able to not only recover from resistance against themselves and the world, but also contrive a genuine encounter with themselves. The researcher has found that it is significant for a therapist to trust and follow sincerity of a client's expression originated from his/her internal, even though it is sporadic and not comprehensive. The therapist can manage to see what the client views, only when the therapist respects and sympathizes the client's world. Findings from the study will provide qualitative information for further researches or therapeutic intervention on eating disorders, and will help to set the direction of the researches and intervention. Also the findings can contribute to developing some art therapy programs for young adults with eating disorders.

Keywords: Art Therapy. Eating Disorders, Hermeneutic Phenomenology, van Manen, Phenomenological Research, Lived Experience of Artworks, Hermeneutic Circle and Art Therapy