Private space: The setting for the work of artists and psychotherapists

This article compares the private space of artists with the clinical setting of therapists. The Jungian prism of visionary creativity is used to elucidate the kind of dream state that is enabled from within such a private space. Presenting a psychological perspective on the artist’s intuitive approach to the development and protection of the creative process, this discussion offers the therapist a glimpse into the artistic sensibility of many clinicians, such as Freud, Bion and Ogden, who are engaged in the cultivation of a quiet state of mind. • Artists and psychotherapists use a private space to engage with self-listening. • Protection of private space facilitates engaging with visionary creativity. • Private space brings subtlety and richness to those who engage with self-listening. • The self-listening of artists and of psychotherapists can contribute to one another.