VeryWell: What Is Art Therapy?
“Creation and healing are the same energy. They transform pain, rather than being destroyed by it. Art heals by accepting the pain and doing something with it.”
(Shawn McNiff, Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul, 2004)
Curing vs. Healing
“Curing is what medical science attempts to do through medication, treatment, and external intervention. It usually is the result of a series of treatments that hopefully leads to an event– the absence of disease. Healing is an internal process you do for yourself. Healing restores balance and harmony to the body, mind, and spirit. It can be done without a cure. Healing activities are essential when the negative influences of illness, loss, or life changes encompass your life.
Art as a therapy
Art therapy is a tool therapists use to help patients to heal through interpreting, expressing, and resolving their emotions and thoughts. Patients work with an art therapist to explore their emotions, understand conflicts or feelings that are causing them distress, and use art to help them find resolutions to those issues.
There's growing evidence that art therapy helps conditions that relate to mood, such as anxiety and depression, trauma, low self-esteem, and similar disorders. It is also effective for people with a serious health condition, such as cancer, and for people working to develop effective coping skills, including prison inmates. Art therapy can also help people who are experiencing physical pain during hospitalization. Evidence also shows that it can be effective for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Types of Creative Therapies
Art therapy is not the only type of creative art used in the treatment of mental illness. Other types of creative therapies include Dance therapy, Drama therapy, Expressive therapy, Music therapy, and a Writing therapy.
Techniques used in art therapy can include:
- Collage
- Coloring
- Doodling and scribbling
- Drawing
- Finger painting
- Painting
- Photography
- Sculpting
- Working with clay
As clients create art, they may analyze what they have made and how it makes them feel. Through exploring their art, people can look for themes and conflicts that may be affecting their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Art therapy can be used to treat a wide range of mental disorders and psychological distress. In many cases, it might be used in conjunction with other psychotherapy techniques such as group therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). If art therapy is ineffective, it means that the patient's issues cannot be fully addressed. It indicates that it is necessary to find a better-suited form of therapy.
”Sources: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-art-therapy-2795755; https://www.psychology.org/resources/what-is-art-therapy/
#Art #Therapy #Healing
💬 What do you think about art therapy? Have you ever used art to express yourself?
@globalBraid3744 art therapy is wonderful
@zealousGrace5023
What type of art therapy attracts you the most? :)
@globalBraid3744 i like most forms
sketching painting crafting
@globalBraid3744 I don't have much experience with art therapy, but I think it can be great for those who enjoy being creative! I am not creative much at all, so I don't think I'd enjoy it very much but it's an awesome idea!
@fruityPond7887
I find it so amazing because the person having art therapy does not have to be creative or skilled at all! I am also not creative but there are so many activities that I think almost everyone can find something. For example, photography or digital art could be suitable for people like that. But I agree that not everyone likes to express themselves in a creative manner. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
@globalBraid3744 That's a good way to look at it! It could be helpful in having people loosen up and realize that you don't have to be creative to enjoy art. It honestly probably helps a lot with perfectionism! Thank you for sharing your perspective!
@fruityPond7887
I think it is an amazing idea to use it to help with too much perfectionism! I will try it.
@globalBraid3744 I hope you find that it works for you! I'm not sure which kind of art to even start with! What kind do you think you will do? :)
@fruityPond7887
I liked painting with watercolors, it was so easy and usually turned out well! Then I bought acrylic colors and it was indeed frustrating. It is much more difficult to paint with it because it requires a certain technique as every brush move is visible. I tried painting some exotic patterns and it was so bad that I kind of liked it, looked like abstract art lol.
@globalBraid3744
I often write poems to capture and write down my emotions at the peak. It really helps me put words to what I'm feeling and organize my thoughts! Also it's fun to read them later and reminisce on that particular time.
Hi!
To everyone at 7cups: I <3 Art Therapy!!! :)
I did not even read this whole article yet, but I've already bookmarked it. I do love art therapy. I've found that often if I feel I've done the project or assignment 'wrong' that the art therapist will help me to see that it is still my art and perhaps the therapist can 1-help me to 'fix' it, or 2-help me to see that it can still be beautiful or angry or joyous or whatever my goal was for the project. I appreciate those who work as art therapists so very much. I have found those who are trained in using art things as a mode of therapy are often very kind, patient, and helpful. I appreciate these characteristics in everyone!
So... yes, indeed, I love art therapy! Even if (or when) I am in the hospital! :O yeah, I know.
~ Platy
@cyanPlatypus6370 they really are some of the best kind of people
@cyanPlatypus6370
Hello, Platy! Thank you for reading the post. I hope you will be able to go home from the hospital soon.
I also like the flexibility of art. Sometimes the end product is not as we imagined, but it is always unique. What type of art therapy are you having?
@globalBraid3744
Hey, I'm not in the hospital now. Thank goodness! Maybe I was not clear enough on that in my original post. (I have done art therapy while in the hospital, but I have not been hospitalized for a few years now, for which I am very grateful.)
There was one hospital in Kansas that had … their very own entire art therapy room (a sort of mini building!). They had a potter's wheel, they had drawers from floor to waist-high -- small drawers filled with all sorts of things you might need for arts and crafts and such. We had a real Art Therapist there - not just someone who says 'art therapy time' and tosses out coloring pages, colored pencils, and a radio for some music. Art therapy is a true thing (a wonderful thing, if you ask me); but Art Therapy is best, according to me, when it is directed or guided by a leader.
~ Platy
@7cupsCommunity What happens when posts in the forum are flagged? Can you delete them? Can (L) or Moderators delete them?
@cyanPlatypus6370
Hello Platy! I hope you're doing well. There is a process that we have to follow when forum posts are flagged. A recent change that we have made is including a description box that allows users to give us the exact reason as to why they're flagging a post and to categorize it in one of the existing options. Once that is done, the post is entered into the forum flag queue where it will be reviewed to determine if it needs to be edited or deleted altogether. I and others on the team help to handle forum flaggings. I hope this helps to clear things up.