Art therapy has increased in popularity in recent years as a way to treat mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and ADHD. The practice focuses on examining the “making” of art and can assist people in creating therapeutic art. Psychotherapy patients can also benefit, using the instruction, creation, and acquisition of creative skills as part of their clinical treatment, according to Creative Arts Therapies Week. These strategies are not only beneficial to the patient but are also beneficial to therapists and other service providers, who gain a deeper understanding of the patient’s mind-body experience and can better treat patients through their original perspectives.
What Is Art Therapy?
In art therapy, patients create art with the help of a therapist who uses the techniques of theory, education, and experience to change the patient’s sense of self through one of the most expressive and collaborative mental health practices. The therapeutic art routines of a session typically consist of drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, and more. Art therapy can support adults with mental illness and their families.
The vast library of sensory information that comes with sitting and working with a body (creating art) over time leads the therapist to produce art that she or he is fond of and never uses again. So instead of having only the color and shape of the piece, the therapist may begin to develop a broader sense of what art is, adding depth to his or her mental health practice with every session.
Some of the techniques used in art therapy include encouraging healing and celebrating the transference of one’s emotions to the object, developing a vision or a model, developing empathy, using maps to understand, and building a muscle of involvement (from the patient’s perspective) with the object. To focus the studio sessions, a therapist decides to allow for an exploration of time, space, and relationships. Not only does this allow for the creation of art, but the client’s evolution, acceptance, and growth in awareness and self-esteem can also occur.
How Can My Therapist Improve Therapy Sessions With Art Therapy?
When creating art, the therapist should focus on guiding the patient through the visual and therapeutic processes. A therapist should choose the method they feel comfortable using in order to achieve maximum growth. When considering ideas about a visual activity to facilitate a therapeutic art session, consider include but not limit the following items: Journals, Art Books, Art Boards, Inspirational Videos, etc.
Anxiety and anxiety disorders can experience a lot of changes in the sensory field in particular. Some of these changes may be disruptive, so it is critical to make sure the therapist understands how sensory input impacts the patient. For example, if nerves and tensions are heightened, clients may experience a disorientation in focusing on the visual world.
One of the aspects of art therapy I love about it is the precision of the sensory field. A great example of this is the use of colored chalk on paper to practice drawing. You can create a full menu of sensory activations with each art technique. The depth of every sensory experience is recorded and considered as the therapist creates for the next session.
Anything Else I Should Know About Art Therapy?
There is always room for more knowledge! Art therapy is one of the most unique ways of managing difficult mental health symptoms. With therapy, you can further learn how to connect with yourself and gain more insight into the whole person. Mental health professionals should be mindful of the importance of this art-themed topic, since it serves as a healthy, effective way of teaching clients to develop their own emotions. Plus, it’s a good excuse to take a break from some 20-minute office tasks!
Art Therapy Is Known To Be Effective in Postpartum Depression
Art therapy is probably the most common way to deal with postpartum depression. Art therapy has its own special privileges — there are dozens of credible art therapists in the country, and many of them have extensive private practice as well as access to state and federal grants. Almost all qualified art therapists want to get involved in public care.
Most treatment for PTSD involves some combination of applied behavioral analysis and psychotherapy. Applied behavior analysis is a sophisticated, evidence-based set of techniques that can be used to help people deal with their emotional problems. Psychotherapy involves a form of personal/peer support, especially with people with mental health problems. But there are a number of issues with this approach to treating PTSD. For one thing, it’s time-consuming, even time-consuming for very advanced practitioners. For another, there is no real data that apply-behavioral approach work helps any more effectively than simpler, more traditional approaches like art therapy.
Can Art Therapy Help You?
Art therapy has been used to treat anyone looking for anxiety relief.
It can be a useful component of working with people and communities who have low self-esteem and exhibit other difficulties and are prone to emotional outbursts.
Art therapists can help parents to improve their child’s or sibling’s self-esteem. They can help children with limited self-confidence improve it and help them make right decisions.
Art therapy can help troubled teens who’ve suffered from depression improve their problem-solving skills. It can improve foster parents’ ability to deal with difficult teens — and their own lack of self-confidence. Art therapists are trained to help parents to identify and address their children’s self-esteem problems.
One of the approaches involves adults who are particularly sensitive to language. The established models of art therapy “creative art therapy” projects — stress this topic and help them build up proper necessary relation with surrounding people.
Conclusion
Art therapy is an immensely positive and valuable instrument of psychotherapy. One of the features that I think draws people to art therapy is that it is about individual improvement rather than programmatic change — that in everyday life the ways in which one responds to change, new stimuli, challenging situations, etc., offer considerable opportunity for improvement.
If you are in crisis or think you may have an emergency, call your doctor, go to the emergency room, or call 911 immediately. If you’re having suicidal thoughts, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to talk to a trained counselor.
