Art Therapy

Art therapy is the use of visual arts materials to identify and treat emotional trauma and mental disorders. By creating images in drawings, paintings, sculptures, and photographs, patients provide information about suppressed feelings and buried memories that they cannot express with words. This approach is also an important aspect of rehabilitation programs for people who are recovering from a stroke or an injury affecting hand function. It can help disabled people to improve their self image and depressed or elderly patients to expand their range of expression.

Origins

The term art therapy was first used in the 1940s to describe the work of psychiatrists and psychologists who were finding that artistic expression provided important insight into the feelings of disturbed children. Independent practitioners eventually established the American Art Therapy Association, An art therapist encourages a young patient to use finger painting to express feelings that are difficult to put into words.

which issued guidelines for the first formal training program in 1967. An important recent development in the field of art therapy is the formation of Medart International, an organization that investigates and promotes the relationship between established medicine and the visual and performing arts.

Practioners

This method may be used by psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric social workers. To qualify as a professional art therapist, a person must complete a master’s degree program that has been approved by the American Art Therapy Association. There are now 122 such programs offered by 16 colleges and universities nationwide. Practitioners who meet the associations professional standards are given the title of Art Therapist Registered (ATR) and are bound by the same code of patient confidentiality that applies to all psychotherapists. They must also obtain permission from their patients before their artwork can be used for any public display or reproduction.

Precautions

All art materials used in a therapeutic setting, especially by children, should be nontoxic. People with allergies should be especially careful about the contents of paints and solvents.

When It Is Used

Art therapy is used with patients who cannot or will not employ words to achieve the personal insight that is a corner stone of traditional psychotherapy. By surmounting language barriers, this therapy can be especially effective with disturbed children and patients who speak a different language from the therapist. It is also helpful in rehabilitating hand motor skills following a stroke or injury and assessing the progress of a patient by comparing an early attempt at a self­portrait with a similar attempt after physical therapy.

How It Works

By providing a patient with a nonverbal means of expressing repressed thoughts and feelings, art therapy can help ease guilt and anger. Sexually abused children often render images whose meaning can eventually be discussed. Through drawings and paintings, a schizophrenic patient may offer the therapist a view into a disordered mind, thus providing some clues for how treatment might proceed. Art therapy can also enable mentally ill deaf adults to describe early conflicts with family members and to alleviate symptoms of aggression, hostility, and depression. Physically handicapped children, neglected elderly persons, alcoholics, and prison inmates all can be helped to build self esteem through sculpture, painting, or photography, especially when they see their work exhibited for other people’s appreciation.

What To Expect

Through supportive discussions with an art therapist, patients become aware of the messages conveyed in their drawings, paintings, or sculptures. When previously unacknowledged frustration, rage, or confusion has been brought to light, the patient can be helped to take positive steps for dealing with it. Practiced in a family setting, art therapy can also resolve interpersonal problems.

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