Why Should You Include Art In Your Health, Healing, & Wellness Journey?

on

Individuals who produce artwork in any form, whether they are artists or just pursuing hobby hour, are taking part in a self-discovery process that gives them a safe space to express their own selves.

Art allows them to feel more in control over their life just like they control the paint brush, contouring lines, colours, painting a picture to what they want, as they want it.

This creative process is enjoyable in its own right. Art can be used as a mode of self-discovery. In fact, as described by the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is a kind of therapy that integrates mental health and human services by using “active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience.”

What Does It Involve?

In an art therapy session, an individual may do some of the following exercises:

  • painting
  • drawing
  • finger painting
  • doodling and scribbling

Key thinkers came to the field from backgrounds in education, the visual arts, and psychotherapy. Margaret Naumburg, the 'mother of art therapy', believed that through the creative process, individuals brought to light unconscious thoughts and feelings that they might have repressed.

She felt that when individuals talked through this creative process with a therapist, they could come to understand what their artwork was revealing to them about themselves. This understanding would, in turn, promote healing.

Benefits and How It Can Be Used

The Art Therapy Credentials Board say that art therapy can be useful for people:

  • who experienced trauma, such as combat or a natural disaster
  • with significant and chronic health challenges, including traumatic brain injuries and cancer
  • with certain conditions, such as anxiety, panic attacks, depression, autism, and dementia

Practitioners say that art therapy can also help people enhance specific skills by:

  • improving their approach to conflict resolution
  • enhancing social skills
  • managing stress
  • strengthening their ability to self-regulate
  • improving their understanding of themselves

 For Children

Researchers [1] have found that art therapy can be helpful for children facing the following specific challenges:

  • childhood trauma
  • disabilities and special educational needs
  • criminal conviction as a juvenile
  • chronic asthma

Art therapy can also benefit children who are not dealing with one singular issue but face a variety of challenges in life.

Wrapping Up...

Art therapy promotes healing by tapping into and revealing an individual’s deepest thoughts and feelings through the arts.

This therapeutic approach is accessible to people of all ages, including those who do not consider themselves good at art. Research indicates that it might be helpful for people with a wide variety of conditions, chronic anxiety to trauma.

Sources

1 Notes on contributors

Liat Cohen-Yatziv, The School of Creative Arts Therapies, University of Haifa, Israel

Dafna Regev, The School of Creative Arts Therapies and the Emili Sagol Creative Arts Therapies Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel


Comments

Post a Comment