What is art therapy?

Therapists use art therapy as a means of helping patients understand, express, and work through their emotions and ideas. In the process of discovering their emotions, understanding problems or feelings that are distressing them, and using art to help them find answers, patients work with an art therapis

The field of art therap originated in the 1940s and became more popular in the 1970s. It employs creativity like other expressive arts therapies, such as dance or music therapy.

How does art therapy work?

An art therapist helps patients identify the issues that distress them during a session. After that, the therapist helps the client make art that tackles the root of the problem. When working with clients, art therapists:

Explain the purpose of art therapy.

• Describe how clients can still benefit even if they don't consider themselves creative or artistic.
• Help the client choose and use a medium, such as painting, collage, sculpture, or sketching.
• Assist the client in using art to communicate, often by asking questions.
• Discuss the results, including the artwork and the client's feelings.
• Schedule a follow-up session or allow the client to work independently.

Does art therapy work?

There is mounting evidence that art therapy can help with mood-related problems like melancholy and anxiety, trauma, low self-esteem, and comparable disorders. It also proves effective for prisoners trying to learn healthy ways of coping with their lives. It also works for those people with a terrible illness, such as cancer. People in physical pain during their hospital stay can benefit from art therapy. The research also states that it helps treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Since art therapy is still in its infancy, the evidence for its efficacy in treating severe mental illnesses is encouraging but sparse.

Is art therapy Harmful?

Like other forms of therapy, art therapy can be harmful. Adverse effects may include:

• Increased levels of anxiety or stress
• Expression of emotions without proper management
• Coping problems if the therapy is abruptly terminated

Ineffective art therapy means that the patient's problem cannot be appropriately resolved. This often worsens the patient's discomfort and can even lead to the patient becoming uncooperative with other, more effective forms of treatment

Many clients believe they need to be artistically gifted, view art therapy as "arts and crafts" rather than a useful technique, or are generally sceptical of its potential benefits; they often resist the use of art therapy, which limits its effectiveness for these individuals.

Art therapy is new; there is not enough data to understand which conditions it can help with and when it works better than other types of therapy. Patients with serious mental illnesses should consider incorporating art therapy into their treatment rather than using it alone.

Is art therapy suitable for you?

Knowing whether art therapy is a good fit for a particular person is impossible. A person and therapist may need to try several different ways before settling on the best one because there is no one-size-fits-all treatment.

It may take a person to see several therapists to choose one. Ask, as a potential person, of:

• The therapist's experience with your specific mental health condition
• What type of art the therapist uses and how they work with patients depends on your skill in the arts
• What to expect from art therapy
• In one to three sessions you should be able to decide if art therapy will help you.