Table of Contents
How art is a therapy?
Art therapy is a tool therapists use to help patients interpret, express, and resolve 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. In expressive arts therapy, each client is encouraged to use multiple forms of creative expression to articulate their inner world, including drawing and painting, photography, sculptures using a range of materials from clay to paper mâché, music, drama and role-play, poetry, prose, and dance and movement. Art is a way to express our emotions and feelings. It can be used to communicate ideas and thoughts; it can be used as a tool for self-expression, used as a form of therapy, or even as a means to find beauty in life. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that often is low in patients with anxiety, depression, and excessive stress. Because art therapy has been seen to help increase these dopamine levels and help a patient feel happier, it is also an excellent choice for people with mental illnesses, such as chronic depression and anxiety. A: Art is healing because it forces you to forge a connection between your mind and your body. Unlike exercise, which works your body, or meditation, which clears your mind, art-making accesses both mind and body to promote healing.
What makes art a form of therapy?
Therapist use patients’ free form art expressions to encourage them to talk about the images and to begin to look to themselves for meaning and insight. Combined with talk therapy, it can help people deal with strong emotions, increase self-awareness and self-worth and decrease stress and anxiety. Art therapy has also been shown to lead to increased self-esteem, confidence, and self-awareness. Art therapy is unique in that it allows individuals to express their feelings and emotions without ever having to say a word. Art gives a feeling of joy and boosts a good mood. Artwork fosters the feeling of relaxation, creativity, and inspiration. Any form of creativity can reduce the stress hormone cortisol and encourage the good hormones endorphins and dopamine in our brains. Art gives us meaning and helps us understand our world. Scientific studies have proven that art appreciation improves our quality of life and makes us feel good. When we create art, we elevate our mood, we improve our ability to problem solve, and open our minds to new ideas.
What is the power of art therapy?
An art therapist can use a patient’s art to help them achieve insights, improve interpersonal skills, increase self-awareness, and boost self-esteem. This helps reduce tension and anxiety, which can relieve pain and set a strong foundation for the process of healing or coping with life-long disabilities. All art can broaden knowledge, give enjoyment, and challenge our assumptions; but it can also help soothe, calm, enlighten, and uplift the mind and spirit. Even art that leaves us uncomfortable can still help us to think differently and give us new perspective. Art allows students to release stress in a healthy way. It gives them an alternative way to express themselves – either through a shared experience, or one that’s more private. Art can communicate information, shape our everyday lives, make a social statement and be enjoyed for aesthetic beauty.
Why is art a popular form of therapy?
– People with chronic/terminal illness: As art therapy helps in expressing feelings, it can also help patients to regain their sense of freedom and control. – People who cannot express their feelings: People who cannot express their feelings can use art therapy to show their emotions without any verbal communication. Studies suggest that art therapy can be very valuable in treating issues such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and even some phobias. It is a great way to express your emotions without words, process complex feelings and find relief. There is a strong psychological connection between art (and all things beautiful) and the human experience, which is why so many use art therapy as a way to enhance self-expression, coping skills, stress management, and a strengthened sense of self. Perhaps one of the most common differences between the two is the overall goal, which is self expression. In other words, the main goal involving art therapy is to either communicate or express something, while the main goal involving therapeutic art-making is to either experiment or learn something. Why does art work so well with trauma? Research has found that traumatic memories are stored in the right hemisphere of the brain. Speech is located in the left. Because art is a right-brain activity, it is often easier for those suffering from PTSD to draw about their trauma rather than talk about it.
Why does art help mental health?
The arts’ valuable role in mental health is being recognised It can help to boost confidence and make us feel more engaged and resilient. Besides these benefits, art engagement also alleviates anxiety, depression and stress. It encourages the development of healthy coping strategies. Therapy can facilitate insight, empathy, and acceptance of other’s life challenges. It is capable of promoting problem-solving skills. Art therapy is capable of exploring, managing, and providing insight into traumatic experiences. Art can uplift, provoke, soothe, entertain and educate us and is an important part of our lives. At its most profound level, it takes us from the everyday to a place of introspection and contemplation, to see the bigger picture of the human condition. Art is an expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more personal than that: it’s about sharing the way we experience the world, which for many is an extension of personality. It is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be faithfully portrayed by words alone. The scans show that viewing art triggered a surge of dopamine, the happy chemical, into the brain, which results in feelings of pleasure and satisfaction.