Abstract

This qualitative study is a preliminary inquiry on the occurrence and nature of synchronicity, also called meaningful coincidence, in the context of art therapy. I conducted three phenomenological interviews with three art therapists, exploring their clinical experiences with synchronicity, and how they felt it impacted their practice. These interviews revealed participants' views on synchronicity in their lives and work, as well as how it has impacted their clients' therapeutic process, their role as therapists, and their therapeutic relationships. They also provided their thoughts on certain caveats to keep in mind when confronted with synchronistic phenomena and touched on how they saw synchronistic manifestations in the context of art therapy as distinct from those in talk psychotherapy. Findings are limited to their exploratory and descriptive value and are not generalizable to populations outside the context of the study. However, they may stimulate further inquiry, or generate new understandings that can affect future clinical approaches and attitudes. Findings suggest that there are occurrences in art therapy that are sometimes perceived as indistinguishable from meaningful coincidences. This study has the potential to shed light on the extraordinariness of art therapy practice, perhaps placing the uncanny connections that occur therein alongside synchronicities on a spectrum of coincidences.