Truly, what is art therapy and how can it help you? Let us discover all the wonderful benefits that this kind of therapy offers.
Art Therapy is a mental health and human services profession that uses art-making to make lives better. It involves creating art, applying psychological ideas, and understanding people’s experiences in a therapeutic relationship. A trained art therapist helps individuals, families, and communities achieve their personal and relationship goals. It is not just about making art. It’s a way to boost thinking and physical skills, build self-esteem, become more aware of oneself, and handle emotions better. It also helps improve social skills, deal with conflicts and stress, and contribute to positive changes in society and the environment. More: Learn how to meditate in the right way
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton
It involves using various methods to engage the mind, body, and spirit, going beyond just talking. Also, includes activities that touch on movement, senses, perception, and symbols, offering different ways to communicate. This is especially helpful when words might not be enough. Expressing thoughts and feelings through visual and symbolic means allows for a unique form of communication, giving voice to experiences. This creative process has the power to empower individuals and contribute to personal, community, and societal transformations.
How and why does art therapy work?
To understand what is art therapy, we should know how it works. It is a helpful tool that therapists use to assist patients in understanding and expressing their emotions and thoughts. In collaboration with an art therapist, patients explore their feelings, identify conflicts or troubling emotions, and utilize art as a means to find resolutions.
The practice emerged in the 1940s and gained more popularity in the 1970s. Similar to other expressive arts therapies like dance or music therapy, it taps into creativity. Exploring the advantages and disadvantages of art therapy can provide insight into how it might suit an individual.
The fundamental idea is that expressive arts therapies offer individuals a fresh and valuable perspective to comprehend and respond to their emotions and thoughts, promoting mental well-being through artistic expression. In a session, an art therapist collaborates with clients to grasp the causes of their distress. The therapist then encourages the client to create art that addresses the root of their issue. Throughout a session, art therapists:
- Clarify the purpose of art therapy.
- Emphasize that clients don’t need to consider themselves as creative or artistic to benefit.
- Assist the client in selecting and using a medium, such as drawing, sculpture, collage, or painting.
- Guide the client in expressing themselves through art, often by posing questions.
- Discuss the results, both the artwork and the emotions the client experienced.
- Plan for future sessions or independent work by the client.
How can it benefit mental health?
Although we don’t fully grasp how the brain functions, studies suggest that art therapy can be helpful for various mental health conditions. Growing evidence shows its positive impact on mood-related issues like anxiety, depression, trauma, and low self-esteem. It’s also effective for individuals dealing with serious health conditions, including cancer, and those learning coping skills, like prison inmates. Art therapy may aid in managing physical pain during hospitalization and is proven to be effective for post-traumatic stress disorder.
However, like any form of therapy, this therapy has potential drawbacks. It can lead to higher stress levels, surface emotions without effective processing, or cause difficulties in coping if terminated abruptly. The ineffectiveness of art therapy might indicate that a patient’s issues aren’t fully addressed, intensifying distress and potentially making them resistant to more suitable therapies.
Some individuals hesitate to explore it, believing they need artistic talent or viewing it as mere “arts and crafts.” This misconception limits the effectiveness of this type of therapy for such clients. Since it is a relatively new field, there’s insufficient evidence to determine its efficacy for specific conditions and when it surpasses other therapeutic approaches. Individuals with serious mental health conditions may find value in incorporating art therapy into their treatment rather than relying solely on it. More: Does body language tell the truth?
