Lindy Bower March 22, 2021

Art therapy is a creative outlet to let clients focus on their feelings and express them onto paper or canvas. Doing this, allows that person to gain a perspective of their inner emotions.  

Art therapy can be used to help people explore new coping strategies, self-expression, and personal insight. Art therapy can be utilized to treat severe stress, behavioral disorders, trauma, etc.  

A 2010 study conducted by researchers at National Jewish Health, tested the effects of seven weeks of art therapy on children who suffer from anxiety. They discovered that the children improved dramatically on tests that generate anxiety. 

Juliet King, a neurological professor at Indiana University, voices her input. 

“For a person who is grappling with avoidance and numbing and nightmares and all of the other agitations—the symptoms that go along with posttraumatic stress—to be able to control something at your own volition in an easy, calm, supportive way, is huge,” King states. 

Although the average art class may seem similar to art therapy sessions, art therapy allows patients to focus on their emotions and create a piece that resides with them. This form of therapy can be used to treat people who are seeking personal development, mental treatment, or just a simple perspective of how they may be feeling. 

The different forms of art therapy consist of drawing, sculpting, doodling, scribbling, finger painting, painting with paintbrushes, using molding clay, making pottery, carving, using textiles, making cards, and making collages. Medication is often used alongside taking art therapy sessions for affective results.  

Art therapy is not only used to treat mental illness, but it is also reported to aid with chronic physical illness. Patients have even reported a difference in their pain levels after sessions.  

Would you take art therapy sessions?