PhotoTherapy Centre

604-202-3431 | [email protected]

www.phototherapy-centre.com

History and Development

Surprisingly, PhotoTherapy and Therapeutic Photography are not new concepts! The
earliest written documentation of the use of photo-based therapy techniques found thus far
dates back to 1856 by Dr. Hugh Diamond, less than twenty years after photography itself was
invented… And the earliest use of Therapeutic Photography seems to have happened even
earlier, with the use of "magic lantern" slides in 1844 by Dr. Thomas Kirkbride as social
entertainment ("as a means of education and amusement") for patients at his mental hospital
during their otherwise-empty evening hours when doctors were not onsite.

The more recent history of PhotoTherapy began when Canadian psychologist Judy
Weiser, who had been using photos in her work counselling Deaf Native children starting in
1973, published her first article in 1975, using the term "PhotoTherapy Techniques" in that
article's title marking its first time ever appearing in print. Two years later, in the United States,
a brief notice appeared in the magazine Psychology Today in 1977, asking people who were
using photography in their therapy or counselling work to contact the author. When over two
hundred people responded, the "PhotoTherapy Quarterly Newsletter" was begun as a means
of communicating with this growing network.

The first Workshops taught about PhotoTherapy techniques began in 1975 in Canada
(taught by Weiser), and in the U.S. (by Krauss, Stewart, Zakem, Entin, and others) a few
years later. The first PhotoTherapy Workshop taught in Europe (by Weiser) happened in
Leeuwarden, Netherlands in 1990.

One note of historical interest is that all this took place before the invention of the Internet
(search engines, emails and digital networking) — which means that most of these early
people had no way to know about each other's work. Those who happened to read the above
1977 Psychology Today article and respond to its authors, began the North American
network, but those in other countries often had no way to know about others nearby...

The first International PhotoTherapy Symposium in Illinois in May, 1979, drew participants
from five countries and presentations from most of the field's early pioneers including Entin,
Fryrear, Gassan, Hogan, Krauss, Stewart, Walker, Weiser, Wolf, Zakem, and many others
whose publications form the foundation of the field's literature base. Although none of these
people have ever claimed to have invented PhotoTherapy on their own, they are nevertheless
collectively the co-inventors of its current form of practice — and thus deserve recognition in
any serious study of PhotoTherapy's foundations.

After five years and three U.S. conferences, that original informal collegial network and its
simple Newsletter evolved into the International PhotoTherapy Association, which began
publishing the more formal journal "PhotoTherapy" as a benefit of membership. But after a
decade of publication, that journal became a victim of its own broader success, ceasing
publication in 1987 because other Professional Associations (psychology, psychiatry, social
work, art therapy, and similar others) had begun featuring articles about PhotoTherapy in their
own journals directly.

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 Similarly, although several International PhotoTherapy Association Conferences initially
took place independently, by the mid-1980's it had become evident that a wider group of
mental health professionals could be reached if PhotoTherapy presentations and training
events were held during the annual gatherings of such larger groups instead. As a result, the
International PhotoTherapy Association chose to de-activate in 1988, because its original
purpose of raising awareness about PhotoTherapy techniques had successfully been met.

The fourth International Conference took place in Toronto, Canada, in 1984 (organized by
Walker and Weiser), with presenters and participants from many countries and professional
backgrounds — and experiences ranging through the whole spectrum from PhotoTherapy
(using photos during formal therapy sessions) to Therapeutic Photography applications (using
photo-based activities as the therapy itself).

The fifth International Conference took place in Turku, Finland, in June of 2008 (organized
by Halkola) and was the first to happen in Europe. The event featured three days of Pre-
Conference Workshops followed by the formal Conference itself. Its key Invited Plenary
Presenters included the early pioneers of both fields (Weiser, Krauss, Walker, Dennett [for
Spence], and Martin), along with many newer key people in both fields (Wheeler, Halkola,
Avilés-Gutiérrez, Parrella, Mannermaa, and Anor), along with many additional current
practitioners, researchers, and educators.

In February, 2011, the Learning and Healing with Phototherapy Symposium took place in
Turku, Finland, but it was not intended as an International Conference. It instead was solely
EU-focused because it was organized as part of a three-year "multi-country EU research
collaboration" that had studied "the applications of phototherapy to promote wellbeing and
reduce social exclusion" within the countries researched. It featured other presenters, but only
as additions to the main EU research study focus.

Most of the early North American pioneers from the 1970's and 1980's continued
teaching, writing about, and using these techniques in their practices for several more
decades. For example, most provided a chapter about their own work in the 1983 book:
"PhotoTherapy in Mental Health" (Krauss & Fryrear, Eds.). But although that book contained
numerous examples of solid clinical applications, as well as two excellent chapters (by
Krauss) on theoretical foundations, it unfortunately did not provide readers with very much
hands-on information about how they could actually begin using the techniques themselves.

Since not everyone could afford to attend workshops or conferences to get personalized
training in these techniques, a newer and more practical book authored by psychologist, art
therapist, and PhotoTherapy pioneer Judy Weiser was published in 1993, in order to fill that
gap. "PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family
Albums" — which is now in second edition (1999) and third printing — gives readers
examples and assignments to try on themselves and get started experiencing the
Techniques!

Additional professional publications on the topic have steadily increased in number — and
graduate students all over the world continue to produce new PhotoTherapy-related writings
and research in the form of Masters Theses, Doctoral Dissertations, and other special-topics
papers or research project reports every year. Click here to view a comprehensive list of
Theses & Dissertations.

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 PhotoTherapy has even been taught occasionally for university credit in clinical
psychology and art therapy graduate programs, beginning with the "Photo Counselling"
course at Kent State University's Counselling Department in 1979, taught by Dr. David
Krauss. It has also been taught in several postgraduate art therapy training programs and
continuing education courses for Mental Health professionals needing "CE Credits" for
maintaining their professional license. For a brief time, there was also an online course for Art
Therapists available through the American Art Therapy Association, although that course no
longer exists.

In 1982, the PhotoTherapy Centre in Vancouver (Canada), opened for the purpose of
serving as the consulting, training, and resource base for the field worldwide. Its Founder and
Director, Judy Weiser has been gathering archival material for over three decades of the
field's development with which she will soon found the "PhotoTherapy Archives" to preserve
her holdings. Weiser has also been teaching introductory and advanced-level experiential
training workshops, lecture presentations and other related events since the early-1970's,
both by invitation around the world and in private individualized training intensives at the
PhotoTherapy Centre.

During the past decade she has been brought to lecture, teach workshops, and give
training intensives in North America, Spain, Italy, England, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia,
Mexico, Scotland, and Hawaii. Click here to view the schedule for upcoming training and events.

In addition to earlier related programs such as Krauss' "Center for Visual Therapies" in
Cleveland, OH (U.S.) and Mannermaa's "PhotoSynteesi" ("PhotoSynthesis") in Helsinki,
Finland, many newer Programs and Associations have formed over the past few years. This
strongly attests to increasing interest in using photography, photographs, and people's
interactions with these, during therapy in psychology, social work, art therapy, and other mental
health field applications (PhotoTherapy) and in using photography and photographic
interactions oneself, as naturally-therapeutic personal healing activities on their own
(Therapeutic Photography).

Some of these newer ones are the "Finnish PhotoTherapy Association" centered in Turku,
Finland; "PSYphoto" based in Moscow, Russia; the "Photo Therapy Institute" at the Musrara
School of Photography in Jerusalem (which hopes to soon be connected with a "Masters in
Art Therapy with a PhotoTherapy Specialization" from the European Graduate School in
Switzerland); "GRIFO" ("Gruppo di Ricerca in Fototerapia"), an interest group that meets
regularly in Italy; and "ILPFOT: Instituto LatinoAmericano de Psicología y Fotografía" ("Latin-
American Institute of Psychology and Photography") which is currently being formed in
Mexico. A National Mental Health Center in Lucca, Italy, has also recently begun programs in
both PhotoTherapy and VideoTherapy applications. Italy, in particular, has a large number of
professionals long-experienced in using, writing about, and teaching these techniques. Read
more about these people and their projects here.

The continual fascination of the general public with PhotoTherapy is evident not only from
people's willingness to participate as clients using these techniques, but also from its wide
coverage in the popular media over the past twenty years. Numerous magazine and newspaper
articles, as well as several in-depth radio and television features and interviews, have resulted
in many presentations about it also being given to new groups such as art museum and gallery
audiences, businesses, photographers, advertisers, photo hobby groups,

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special education teachers, visual anthropologists/sociologists, visual literacy and cross-
cultural researchers, art and media critics, and many more.

Many of the PhotoTherapy pioneers are also photographers who have had formal
exhibitions of their fine art photography with interactive elements — where viewers share their
emotions, thoughts, memories, and more in response to viewing the photos on display. For
example, the "Beyond Seeing" Gallery Exhibition produced by Joel Walker and Judy Weiser
in 1982 in Vancouver, BC.

Of course, the history of PhotoTherapy will continue to grow — and now that digital
technology is providing new imaging tools and additional opportunities for cyber-therapy
applications, its potential becomes even more exciting...

PhotoTherapy techniques have long been used by people who may have been unaware
of its name, history, and the other people doing similar work across the world.

But now that the Internet provides a means for instant networking it is possible to now find
and connect with others anywhere who are doing similar work, as well as stay up to date on
facts and events in the field. Connect on Facebook with over 10,000 people around the world
interested or working in PhotoTherapy, Therapeutic Photography, Photo Art Therapy, and
VideoTherapy.

What is most important to convey here, is that people everywhere are already using
photography for the purposes of improving their counselling, education, communication,
research, or personal discovery process — even if they have never heard of the word
PhotoTherapy!

And since people's interactions with themselves and others depend primarily on nonverbal
communication, it seems only logical that the visual language of photography will become
increasingly used to access and activate such emotionally-based information in therapy and
other mental health applications.

Discover people around the world working in PhotoTherapy, Therapeutic Photography,

Photo Art Therapy, and VideoTherapy on the Who is Doing What, Where page.

→ To subscribe to our "PhotoTherapy Techniques News and Events" Email Notification List, click here.
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