Disclaimer: This blog does not replace the need for depressed and anxious patients to consult with their doctor. People, their situations, and needs vary. Medication and even admission are considerations for some patients.
I am constantly exploring drug-free mental health treatment options.
I often encounter the term art therapy but never investigate it, because, in my mind, I’m not ‘arty.’ My friends disagree, saying I have a knack for interior design and photography. Both of these involve creativity.
Their insight and the fact that looking at beautiful art lifts my mood encouraged me to investigate art therapy’s benefits and disadvantages.
Subsequently, I discovered that you don’t need a creative bone in your body for art to help you.
So, what do you think art therapy is?
Let’s define its components.
Art (noun)
- things that conform to accepted aesthetic principles of beauty, show imagination and have more than ordinary meaning and importance.
Therapy (noun)
- the treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating, or curative process: speech therapy, or
- any act, hobby, task, program, etc. that relieves tension.
I interpret these definitions as
- a formal treatment in the context of seeing a therapist,
- an art task you can tackle at home, or
- looking at beautiful art that makes you feel something.
Later, I’ll discuss all three in detail. But first, let’s look at their shared benefits.
Three general benefits of visual art therapy
1. 🎨provides an outlet for emotional acknowledgment and mindfulness
“People feel better when they create.” George Harding, a Bristol-based landscape artist, observes in an article for The Lancet Psychology. He adds, “ When I create for myself, it is therapeutic.” 1
In other posts, I discussed patient agency. This is the power of taking the lead in your treatment. Agency instills a feeling of pride and improves self-esteem. It allows you to acknowledge your feelings and offers self-reflection, which provides insight.
Often, people find it difficult to talk about their emotions and keep them locked inside, festering. A creative process, like art, opens an alternative door to release these toxic feelings.
Art helped me put it out there, instead of letting it bounce around and shake up in here.
Deena Lynch
Deena Lynch is a dynamic young woman who is not only healing herself with creativity but has made a career of it.
2. 🎨 awakens imagination and rebuilds creativity
Trauma affects imagination. (Trauma victims) suffer from a failure of imagination, a loss of mental flexibility.
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
Trauma can be any situation that causes a person to feel emotionally or physically threatened.
It doesn’t have to only be an act of violence, an accident, or disaster-related. It could be ongoing neglect or bullying in school or the workplace. Any trigger that results in mental illness can be considered trauma.
One of my favorite books on trauma is The Body Keeps The Score. In it Dr. Bessel van der Kolk explains that imagination is crucial for happiness.
In times of sadness, anxiety, or despair, imagination allows us to create happier scenarios: a successful future, something to hope for, or a goal to work toward. Our imagination allows us to escape our routine lives.
So, how does imagination disappear?
It all starts with the brain’s frontal lobes, which have two essential functions.
- Firstly, they are a source of imagination, creativity, and curiosity.
- Secondly, the frontal lobes mediate our stress response. This allows us to check our feelings in the situation and decide whether the danger is real. Doing this lets us observe our emotions and realize they are temporary. Hence, we stay in control.
However, if the stress is repetitive or overwhelming, these frontal lobe referees are ignored, and emotions run riot. In addition, the capacity for imagination, creativity, and curiosity disappears.
Making art might help rescue imagination. Just like you train your body at the gym, you can exercise frontal lobe creativity and imagination with art; initially, it is challenging but flows with practice.
3. 🎨 reduces stress
Both making and viewing visual art can reduce stress. Sometimes, we can measure it concretely. Examples are lower stress hormone cortisol 4 levels or decreased blood pressure. 5 Equally as important are patient reports of reduced anxiety. 5
1. Guided art therapy
Four added benefits of a trained therapist
After research, I understand that it is a form of specialized counseling.
Psychology has only been around since the mid to late 1800s, and I’m glad we paired up art and psychology, but I always like to say art’s been around forever.
Ann Lawton
I see four benefits here:
1. Providing a safe, controlled environment
2. Identifying the patient’s needs
3. Being an outlet to encourage conversation around emotions
4. Giving psychotherapy around this conversation
How did I decide this?
Let’s look at what exactly happens in an art therapy session.
It starts with a chat in which the therapist decides what type of art is appropriate. They choose a session goal and task thoughtfully according to the patient’s needs. This gives the patient direction to make art. After the creative process, a supportive and safe discussion follows. The therapist uses art as a prompt to help the client release and be mindful of emotions carefully.
Only the client knows what is going on in their art. The therapist is there to help the client understand their mental state by asking questions and listening. The art therapist is not there to interpret the artwork.
Possible disadvantages of art therapy
Other than financial, I don’t think the other ‘disadvantages’ feature. I have just mentioned them for completeness.
The cost factor
As a rule, you pay for a service. Sadly, for many patients, financial difficulties are a trigger for their poor mental health; they cannot afford any form of therapy.
Performance anxiety
Art-naive people may feel self-conscious about this alternative therapy. I would, but there is no need to be. Art therapy requires no previous experience and no pre-existing creative tendencies. It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong here. In essence, the therapist is there to guide you, not to be an art critic.
Risk of misinterpretation
Again, if you are seeing a certified art therapist, this should not be a factor. The art therapist is not there to analyze your creation but to help unravel your emotions.
2. Creating visual art at home
So, you’ve convinced yourself to exercise your creativity and imagination, but where do I start?
💙Use art therapy ideas
I scoured the net which is rich in ideas, and settled on these 100 art prompts. I’m sure there are some here to kickstart your process.
A note on number 4. Please don’t send balloons into the sky, they come down eventually as litter. Rather throw the negative sentiment in the trash or fireplace.
💚Do virtual art classes
Artist Matt Fussell has a YouTube channel, The Virtual Instructor, with fantastic online videos to get your creativity flowing.
💛Let your day be your muse
An artist, Domingo Zapata, suggests using what is happening in your life as inspiration and starting sketching. He also emphasizes my next point: looking at art is just as therapeutic.
3. The healing power of looking at art
As I mentioned earlier, looking at beautiful art lightens and calms me.
When on holiday, I seek art galleries.
While at home, I get my lift online from artists on Instagram and the Facebook page ‘A Celebration Of Female Artists.’
Evidently, I am not alone; A study of 83 people supported this. Pre and post-viewing surveys showed that viewing Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond online lifted mood in under five minutes.
Likewise, other studies 6 have shown that artworks in hospital wards reduce suffering; patients feel happier, require less pain medication, and go home sooner. However, blue and green tones and landscape and nature themes give the best outcomes. If you can’t get into nature, the next best thing is looking at pictures of it.
In summary
Tell your truth, express yourself, and keep creating, creating, creating.
Deena Lynch
- The possible benefits far outweigh any disadvantages of art therapy.
- Visual art is a terrific and easily accessible way of expressing yourself.
- Creating helps your brain and mind connect.
- Looking at art that moves you or creates something unique reduces stress.
- Art therapy is great for people who have trouble putting feelings into words.
- It is a way of exercising creativity and imagination. Renewing imagination helps you visualize goals, dream, and have hope.
Start today; you only need a pen or pencil and a scrap of paper.
References
- Harding G. (2016). The meaning of art-and art therapy. The lancet. Psychiatry, 3(11), 1008. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30268-1
- Bosman, J. T., Bood, Z. M., Scherer-Rath, M., Dörr, H., Christophe, N., Sprangers, M. A. G., & van Laarhoven, H. W. M. (2021). The effects of art therapy on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in adults with cancer: a systematic literature review. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 29(5), 2289–2298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05869-0
- Shukla, A., Choudhari, S. G., Gaidhane, A. M., & Quazi Syed, Z. (2022). Role of Art Therapy in the Promotion of Mental Health: A Critical Review. Cureus, 14(8), e28026. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.28026
- Kaimal, G., Ray, K., & Muniz, J. (2016). Reduction of Cortisol Levels and Participants’ Responses Following Art Making. Art therapy : journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 33(2), 74–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2016.1166832
- Law, M., Karulkar, N., & Broadbent, E. (2021). Evidence for the effects of viewing visual artworks on stress outcomes: a scoping review. BMJ open, 11(6), e043549. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043549
- Lankston, L., Cusack, P., Fremantle, C., & Isles, C. (2010). Visual art in hospitals: Case studies and review of the evidence. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1258/jrsm.2010.100256
