Comics and graphic therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies

What it is

Comics and graphic therapy is not one manualised therapy. It is a family of practices, mostly within art therapy, narrative therapy and the graphic medicine movement. Clients make or read sequential art: images arranged in sequence (panels) that tell a story, often with words in speech or thought…

Format

• Typical arc (individual work):
• Engagement and demystifying (sessions 1–2). Goals: agree what "comics" means for this client, reduce drawing anxiety, test materials and seating. Move on when the client will make simple marks (stick figures, bubbles) without long hesitation.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Professional frame. No separate profession, credential or registration for "comics therapy" was found. When comics are used as art therapy, the art therapy rules apply. In the UK, "art therapist" and "art psychotherapist" are protected titles registered with the HCPC, and the professional body is BAAT. In the US the professional body is AATA and credentials such as ATR-BC come from ATCB; the AATA Institute course…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• disclosures (follow safeguarding, section 5).
• confidentiality in any published reflective comics.
• frustration with poor materials, and physical discomfort that ends work early.
• strong reactions to drawing a particular person, such as an abuser. Let the client use a symbol or an empty outline instead.
• apologising for the drawing, erasing again and again, freezing. It is working when the client makes marks without commentary on quality.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.