Art Therapy Resources

By Cathy Malchiodi in The Healing Arts on Psychology Today

Are smart people just naturally attracted to study art or perform music, dance, or drama? Or does early education in the arts actually cause changes in the brain that develop important components of cognition? Recent findings show that there may be some significant causal relationships between arts training and the brain's ability to learn.

The Dana Foundation, an organization with interests in neuroscience, immunology, and arts education, just released a three-year study that found that early training in the arts is possibly good for your brain. Neuroscientists and psychologists at several universities have now enhanced understanding of just how the arts might improve thinking, memory, and language skills. Read more...

Drawing on the Effort-Driven Rewards Circuit to Chase the Blues Away

By Cathy Malchiodi in The Healing Arts on Psychology Today

A number of small studies claim that art therapy reduces depression through helping people with mood disorders resolve emotional problems and release repressed feelings. But maybe that is not really why art making helps to alter mood. The answer may literally be in your hands.

In “Where Depression Might Reside,” Peter Kramer notes that both researchers and clinicians are increasingly pointing to an area of the brain known as the frontal cortex. In a similar vein, psychologist and neuroscientist Kelly Lambert proposes that the accumbens-striatal-cortical network—a system in the brain that connects movement, emotion, and thinking—is the underlying source of symptoms associated with depression. While the pre-frontal cortex in linked to the inability to concentrate (a symptom associated with depression), there are other parts of the brain that are involved, too, according to Lambert’s research. Those areas account for slow responses (accumbens), perceived loss of pleasure (striatum), and negative feelings (limbic system). These areas form what Lambert defines as the effort-driven rewards circuit.

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Want to Learn More About Art, Music, Dance, Poetry, Play, Drama, and Sandtray Therapies? Read a Chapter from Expressive Therapies

Psychotherapists, counselors, and other health care professionals are increasingly turning to expressive therapies--including art, music, dance/movement, drama, poetry, play, sandtray, and integrative approaches--in their work with clients of all ages. This timely volume offers a comprehensive presentation of these innovative and powerful modalities. Expert contributors present in-depth descriptions of their respective approaches to intervention with children, adults, and groups, giving particular attention to strategies for integrating expressive work with other forms of psychotherapy.

Read Chapter 1 here....