Art Therapy
Do you ever feel anxious or have anxiety over certain aspects of your life? Are you ever depressed or find yourself ruminating over things you want to forget? Well, you're in the right place! Keep reading to learn some tips and tricks to help reduce these things.
Correlation Between Art Therapy & Anxiety/Depression
The most used therapies for mental illnesses are cognitive behavioral therapy and therapy by using medicine. New research has shown a correlation between art therapy and decreasing anxiety and/or depression. Art therapy uses fine arts, such as painting, drawing, sculpting and clay modeling, to focus on the process of creating, experiencing, expressing memories, feelings and emotions, improvement of self-reflection, and the developing new coping skills.
Art Therapy Research Findings:
- Art therapy helps in recovering from traumatic experiences, as well as reducing flashbacks and nightmares.
- Art therapy helps in coping with difficult experiences and feelings such as grief, loss, and avoidance. Art therapy may foster connectivity in the brain to help support healthier brain function.
- Creates a safe place to "promote a supportive, reflective environment that enables individuals to deal with their experiences in a way that have been deemed impossible" (Heenan, 2007).
Study Within Cancer Patients:
- Art therapy drastically improved cancer-related anxiety and depression, as well as reduced the prevalence of severe anxiety and depression during cancer treatment (Lee et al., 2017).
- Children who participated in art therapy, such as drawing, resulted in increased communication with family members and healthcare professionals (Aguilar, 2017).
- After art therapy, patients had an increased ability to express their internal emotions, develop better coping skills, and they also showed a decrease in adverse side effects.
- Implementing art therapy into the treatment of oncology patients, has a correlation with maximizing quality of life and creating a more tolerable lifestyle. (Aguilar, 2017.)
Anyone Can Be Artistic! Here Are Some Ideas:
Finger Painting
Finger painting isn't just for kids! Let your creativity flow, as you release all your tension and thoughts onto the paper. You get to feel at ease, while getting a little bit dirty! Let yourself be free.
Create a Collage
Think about what would make up the perfect life for YOU. Grab a piece of paper and draw or cut out pictures of things that make you happy. Create a vision for your future and hang it up in a place you see most often.
Make an Art Journal
Use colors to represent your emotions. Draw out what you're feeling with the colors and free write beneath it. Make a collection of poems or quick writes about your deepest thoughts.
Body Art
Have you ever caught yourself doodling on yourself in a time of boredom? Use your body as a canvas, paint anywhere you feel will make you more in touch with yourself. You can even paint on a friend's back and let your creativity run wild!
