Walking the Black Dog: An Art Therapy Student's Journey Off Antidepressants

Walking the Black Dog is an arts-based research project that investigates the lived experience of tapering off antidepressants while enrolled in a post-graduate art therapy program. The project employs a video diary format, with daily recordings primarily taken during walks with the researcher’s dog, Horatio. The project explores themes such as artist and art therapist identity, the inner critic, perfectionism, depression, suicide, and the therapeutic potential of storytelling. The video, edited into a capstone project, serves both as a reflective narrative and a methodological inquiry. This research contributes to the field of art therapy by demonstrating the efficacy of arts-based and heuristic methodologies in exploring complex psychological experiences. The findings emphasize the fluidity of identity, the importance of embracing imperfection, and the therapeutic value of self-reflection and creative expression, offering new insights into the therapeutic potential of arts-based research for addressing mental health challenges.