Table of Contents
What is creative and expressive arts therapy?
Expressive arts therapy involves a multimodal integration of varied elements of the creative arts therapies into psychotherapy and counseling. Creative arts therapies include art therapy, dance therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, and writing therapy. Visual art, music, dance/movement, drama, and expressive writing are the primary expressive arts modalities used in counseling. The creative arts offer both the clinician and the client an opportunity to move beyond the expressive limits of talk therapy. Art therapy, also known as expressive therapy, uses art as a means of communication and lets people explore and express their emotions and thoughts. And the good news is that one doesn’t need to be very creative or artistic to take up this therapy. Art therapists plan and conduct art therapy sessions or programs to improve clients’ physical, mental, or emotional well-being. They design projects to support each client’s needs, such as drawing or creating a collage about an experience, or creating a clay sculpture describing a hope for his or her future.
How does creative art therapy work?
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. Art therapy can be used by anyone of any cultural background and age (infants and parents, children, young people, adults and older people). Participants are usually interested in what creativity and imagination can offer, but do not need any previous experience in making art. Participating in the arts can enable people to deal with a wide range of mental ill-health conditions and psychological distress. The best part is that it helps people to improve their mental health through creativity. Making art is helping many people express themselves, without having to use words. Because the Creative Arts Therapies are based on body awareness they can effectively address trauma and emotional and physical dysregulation. Creative Arts Therapies can increase resilience by improving the sense of agency and self-understanding through the ability to express feelings symbolically.
What is the difference between creative art therapy and expressive art therapy?
The difference between expressive arts therapy and art therapy is that expressive arts therapy draws from a variety of art forms such as writing, psychodrama, dance, movement, painting, drawing, sculpting, play and music (or a combination of them), while art therapy is based on one particular art form. Art therapy is an effective treatment for persons experiencing developmental, medical, educational, social or psychological impairment. A key goal in art therapy is to improve or restore the client’s functioning and his/her sense of personal well being. Art therapists are trained in both art and therapy. Do you talk during art therapy? YES – talking is also an important part of art therapy. Art Therapists are trained in talk therapy and counseling, so sometimes talking might be the only thing that’s therapeutic in the session so that’s what you’ll do. More serious concerns included art therapy causing anxiety,72 increasing pain,72 and resulting in the activation of emotions that were not resolved. In one study,73 a participant was also concerned that art therapy may be harmful if the art therapist was not skilled. Some cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) principles useful to art therapists are problem-solving, modeling, relaxation techniques and mental imagery, stress reduction and systematic desensitization and/or flooding. These CBAT principles are discussed using examples from both historic and current writers.
Who benefits from art therapy?
Art therapy improves the mental health of people who are dealing with addictions, anxiety, attention disorders, grief and loss, dementia, depression, eating disorders, physical illness, PTSD, trauma, relationship issues and much more. 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. Kids, teenagers, or adults with personal problems can benefit from using art therapy. People with more serious issues can make use of art therapy… For example, people with autism, brain injuries, eating disorders, cancer, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, etc. There is increasing evidence in rehabilitation medicine and the field of neuroscience that art enhances brain function by impacting brain wave patterns, emotions, and the nervous system. Art can also raise serotonin levels. These benefits don’t just come from making art, they also occur by experiencing art.
What is the difference between therapy and art therapy?
It is common for clients to experience catharsis or have intense emotions brought to the surface during the art-making process in an art therapy session. An art therapist has been formally trained to know how to safely support the client through this process, whereas a traditional therapist has not. Art therapy is a way to communicate. It helps with exploring confused or difficult thoughts and feelings. It can encourage positive feelings too. People enjoy the control and expressive qualities of making art. The American Art Therapy Association states that art therapy can be an effective mental health treatment for individuals who have experienced depression, trauma, medical illness, and social difficulties. Making art in therapy can be a way to achieve personal insight as well as healing. Art therapy integrates psychotherapy and some form of visual arts as a specific, stand-alone form of therapy, but it is also used in combination with other types of therapy. Another way that art therapy is utilized is art psychotherapy. Adrian Hill coined the term ‘art therapy’ in 1942. Although his work had humble beginnings, Hill’s influence spread as more people joined him in promoting healing through the arts.
What are 3 uses of art therapy?
Improved ability to deal with pain and other frightening symptoms in children with cancer. Reduced stress and anxiety in children with asthma. Stimulated mental function in older adults with dementia. Improved ability to deal with pain and other frightening symptoms in children with cancer. Reduced stress and anxiety in children with asthma. Stimulated mental function in older adults with dementia. Helped reduce pain, decrease symptoms of stress and improve quality of life in adult cancer patients. Improved ability to deal with pain and other frightening symptoms in children with cancer. Reduced stress and anxiety in children with asthma. Stimulated mental function in older adults with dementia.