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What is Art Therapy?

From Art Therapy Sourcebook: Although art therapists have generated many specific definitions of art therapy, most of them fall into one of two general categories. The first involves a belief in the inherent healing power of the creative process of art making. This view embraces the idea that the process of making art is therapeutic; this process is sometimes referred to as art as therapy. Art making is seen as an opportunity to express oneself imaginatively, authentically, and spontaneously, an experience that, over time, can lead to personal fulfillment, emotional reparation, and transformation.

The second definition of art therapy is based on the idea that art is a means of symbolic communication. This approach, often referred to as art psychotherapy, emphasizes the products--drawings, paintings, and other art expressions--as helpful in communicating issues, emotions, and conflicts. The art image becomes significant in enhancing verbal exchange between the person and the therapist and in achieving insight; resolving conflicts; solving problems; and formulating new perceptions that in turn lead to positive changes, growth, and healing. In reality, art as therapy and art psychotherapy are used together in varying degrees. In other words, both the idea that art making can be a healing process and that art products communicate information relevant to therapy are important.

Five Quick Facts About Art Therapy from PsychCentral. PsychCentral.com provides a user-friendly overview of art therapy theory, methods and practice in this brief article by Margarita Tartakovsky.You can download a PDF here or visit PsychCentral's comprehensive, information-loaded website to read it and find other articles on art therapy and related areas.

Top Ten Coolest Art Therapy Interventions on Psychology Today

Art Therapy and...

Come back soon and read more about art therapy with a variety of settings and populations here!

Top Ten Coolest Art Therapy Interventions! All helping professionals know that no one intervention can be applied to all clients; they know that the best interventions are those that are tailored to clients' needs and their presenting situations. As an art therapist, I can say from experience that this challenge is the "coolest" part of my work with clients--to invent a creative strategy to promote change, insight, and well-being. A good art therapist, like a good psychologist, counselor, or family therapist, is adept a innovation and creative adaptation. A good art therapist also knows that for many clients, no technique is needed if the client is capable of creative expression without a directive or gimmick.

The criteria for determining the "coolest" art therapy interventions include:

Historical Tradition: Interventions commonly taught to therapists-in-training in the field of art therapy and related mental health professions;
Innovation: Use of a specific art material or visual media to address clients' presenting problems or for the health and well-being of clients;
Adaptation: Development of a specific intervention based on a psychotherapeutic approach such as psychoanalysis, CBT, or other model;
Popularity: Consistent appearance in literature, conferences, or workshops, whether it's the actual intervention or a variation of the intervention.

For the most part, I'll be focusing on interventions used with adults, but some will also apply to work with children, groups, couples, or families. I'll try to give you a brief history of each intervention through the lens of art therapy and the influences of psychology, counseling, marriage and family therapy, art, and culture on that intervention. I'll will also be explaining a little bit of how an intervention might be adapted to suit individual needs and situations in the spirit of "one size does not fit all." Read about the interventions here...

Here are a few links to current articles, chapters, and information about art therapy, arts in healthcare, and expressive therapies:

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.

Read more...

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....

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Cathy Malchiodi's popular blog, The Healing Arts, on Psychology Today

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