What is Art Therapy?
• Art Therapy can deal with the same issues that conventional talk therapy offers. Simply, it is a blending of art and therapy. It combines the two disciplines of art and psychology where aspects of the visual arts, creativity, human development, behavior, personality and mental health are important to the scope of art therapy.
| • Art therapy is a modality that uses the nonverbal
language of art for personal growth, insight, and transformation and
is a means of connecting that is inside – our thoughts, feelings,
perceptions – with outer realities and life experiences.
• Art chronicles and conveys a wide range of emotions, from profound joy to the deepest sorrow, from triumph to trauma. In this sense, art has a way of understanding, making sense and clarifying inner experiences without words. Art can help to understand who we are and why we do what we do and art can express feelings and ideas that words cannot. It is based on the belief that images can help us understand who we are and enhance life through self-expression. |
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• Since our earliest recorded history, art has also served as a means of rehabilitation, reparation and transformation. Art has been used to restore physical, psychological and spiritual well being. Many have found that art making can be soothing and stress reducing a way to transcend troubling circumstances or life’s problems. Others have experienced how imagery helps to solve problems, release powerful or distressing emotions, recover from traumatic losses or experiences or alleviate pain or other physical symptoms.
• The field of art therapy has expanded in the past two decades and recognized as a form of treatment in health and medicine. It is a potent form of communication.
• Many people frequently notice a change or shift after a short course of art therapy sessions as well as more in depth work and speedier progress.
| Do I need artistic skills?
NO! Art therapy is for everyone. Everyone has been creative at some point, as a child. Then often around age 10, many people stop being creative either because they have been told their art is not good enough or people come to believe that they are not good enough (giving in to the inner critic!). The important aspect of art making and creativity, is not to think and just do. There are no standards, no artistic rules and no judgement in Art Therapy. Many people often say that they are surprised with “what came up”
in their art work and surprised about the self-discovery and
self-awareness art making brings. Creativity heals. |
Who is Art Therapy for:
- anyone!
- people who have difficulty verbalizing feelings and just do not know what to say or how to say it
- for people flooded by anxiety, grief or depression
- for people who are stuck or feeling hopeless
- have trouble communicating with words
- are stalled in their current talk therapy
- who want to recapture or grow their creative abilities
- want to deepen their relationships, spirit/soul and life experiences
Art therapy is often a therapy of choice for children and teens, but is also widely used with adults, as well as with family therapy.
Benefits of Art Therapy
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A little more about Art Therapy and How it works …
• AT frees a person to express and work with feelings non-verbally. A person often has decreased defenses as they work with art; they are often not as familiar with art as a form of communication unlike verbal language which they can easily manipulate, defend against it, and edit what they say and share
• art expression is spatial in nature, meaning that many ideas can be portrayed in a picture at one time, which more closely mirrors life experiences when compared with verbal communication, which is linear. Reflects the idea “pictures are worth a thousand words”
• AT creates a safe distance from possible deeply painful experiences while processing those experience; it is a safe way to gain insight into anxiety provoking material
• Art Therapy is being used increasingly to help people heal from a range of traumatic experiences
Some more interesting and detailed notes about Art Therapy ...
• to be more specific about Art Therapy and trauma, for example, Art Therapy connects the non-verbal to the verbal expressive language which allows for the cognitive therapy process. Art Therapy is essential in allowing the trauma experience to be expressed through non-verbal means. In Art Therapy, the tactile experience involved in making art activates the brain’s sensory areas; this is important because when Art Therapy techniques are applied a connection occurs: the activated abstracts (non-verbal) and concrete sensory memories are connected with the organizing areas of the brain, thereby moving the experience into the brain’s cognitive structures for resolution of symptoms.
| • through Art Therapy there is also a visceral sense of safety which is
re-introduced to a person’s perception of the (trauma) events and when AT
techniques are applied a person is provided with an increased sense of
control of their own emotional and physical responses.
• Art Therapy is also inherently cognitive process; when creating a piece of art, the artist must be involved in uncovering mental images and messages, recalling memories, making decisions, and generating solutions; includes the on going reinforcement of satisfying behaviours; concrete record of inner processes
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Art Therapy expertise: Art Therapists are trained at a post graduate level and adhere to a specific set of code of Ethics and Practices for Art Therapists. Art Therapists are specifically trained to combine the principles and practices visual arts, art materials and psychological techniques into a single multidisciplinary process to facilitate creative expression. Trained Art therapists develop a much deeper and broader understanding of the rich interplay between art and psychotherapy, making for a unique professional expertise.
