Art: The new therapy

Times Squares Chronicles 2018

In simple words, Art Therapy is a mental treatment, a service provided by professional (the Art Therapist) to a person, family members, groups or communities for the purpose of a better life. It consists of pushing people to express themselves through creative artmaking. Art therapists use their psychotherapeutic skills by using different psychological notion so that they can guide the person on what he/she should do efficiently (Smith 2016)

To learn more about Art Therapy, I invite you to watch the following video whereby an expert in the field gives in-depth explanation about the topic:

It has been demonstrated that Art Therapy can be applied to all ages and everyone benefits from it. It helps people to attenuate the sentiment of loneliness and isolation. Person who practices Art Therapy gain more self-esteem, increases self-awareness and have more self-confidence (Smith 2016). Other benefits of Art Therapy have been evinced such as the development of social skills, self-control and allows people to be more distressed, relaxed which give them more ability to resolve different kind of problems and conflicts (Smith 2016).

Good Therapy 2016

Painting, finger painting, sculpting, pottery, collage, drawing, scribbling, these are examples of different manners used during an Art Therapy. Integrative methods are used during Art Therapy. This enables brain, mind, muscles (body) and spirit of the individual to express what he/she could not verbalize (Good Therapy 2016). As a result, people who have experienced arduous events and have difficulty to remember and discuss them would find Art Therapy useful. The symbolization and visualization of thoughts help individuals to foster their personal, social and psychosocial change. Languages and expressions have least limitations since the use of kinesthetic, sensorial, visceral and figurative modes offer more explicit, meaningful and impactful communication (Good Therapy 2016).

Certain people with Schizophrenia are following Art Therapy and amelioration of their symptoms has been noted. That is being said, trials are still being carried out (Good Therapy 2016).

Different movies such as Sybil identifies a woman which has a mental disorder, commonly known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and has different traumas and trouble because her childhood. She used art as way to help her to put words on these traumas by painting. She was able to better express her feelings and emotions and hence therapist could help her more to dissolve these traumas (Good Therapy 2016).

Paradigm treatment n.d.

It has been observed that Art Therapy gives more power for people diagnosed with problem such as anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, anorexia, bulimia, family issues, dependency, aging and geriatric issues, and many others, to face these issues.

References:

Good Therapy. 2016. Art Therapy. Accessed October 1, 2020. https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/art-therapy

Smith, Alison. 2016. "A literature review of the therapeutic mechanisms of art therapy for veterans with post traumatic stress disorder". International Journal of Art Therapy 21(2): 66-74 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17454832.2016.1170055