The Mysterious Guest

About the Book

THE MYSTERIOUS GUEST

An enquiry on creativity from Arts Therapy’s perspective.

What is creativity? How does it work? How can it help us to improve our lives?

The Mysterious Guest is a study of creativity, rooted in the ground of Arts Therapies.

It opens with a general definition of creativity, and then explores two main themes:

1. Its importance in the healthy development of individuals, therefore its value as a resource in therapeutic, educational and social fields;

2. A thorough analysis of the creative process, showing how it works and reflecting on the possibilities of activating, managing, and assessing it.

The discussion on creativity is enriched with discussions and examples ranging from neurosciences to psychoanalysis, from literature to the history of art, from philosophy to symbolism, from science to poetry. The results of the treatment are synthesized, at the end of the second and the fourth part, in two clear and coherent patterns, graphically visualized.

It is the first book on the creativity issue written from an Arts Therapies point of view; it offers a model of creativity that explores the complexity of the phenomenon, but at the same time it is a model that is easy to understand and rich of practical cues. It is a creatively written book in which scientific thought and poetry meet.

About the Author

Salvo Pitruzzella is a dramatherapist, psychodramatist, and creative drama teacher from Palermo, Italy. He works in mental health care and in education. Since 1998, he has been the Director of the Dramatherapy School in Lecco, part of the Arts Therapies Training Centre, the major institute of its kind in Northern Italy.