Can An Art Therapist Support My Mental Health?
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Art therapists often use creative and counseling techniques to treat various mental health disorders, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. They usually work with clients who live with a mental health disorder, need help in coping with daily stressors, and want to achieve a higher level of personal fulfillment through the healthy medium of creative self-expression. Board-certified art therapists often encourage their clients to express themselves through art-making within a variety of mediums and then interpreting the art they create. This form of counseling can be completed in person or online.
The evolution of art therapy
During the 1940s, art therapy began to develop as a therapeutic discipline in Europe and the United States. Adrian Hill, a British World War I veteran, discovered art therapy by accident as he spent many days drawing while he was recovering in a tuberculosis sanitorium. Labor statistics and the warring state of the world are thought to have contributed to mental health disorders running rampant at the time. Hill is believed to have been the first to coin the term "art therapy" in his book titled Art Versus Illness.
Edward Adamson built on Hill's work, using it in mental health hospitals. Adamson often encouraged patients to create art for self-expression, not necessarily to be interpreted by therapists, but for personal growth and benefit.
Psychologist Margaret Naumburg was one of the first U.S. pioneers in art therapy. Naumburg often encouraged her patients to use free association to release their unconscious thoughts and feelings, which she believed were representative of symbolic speech. Her patients frequently interpreted and analyzed their results.
Dr. Edith Kramer was another U.S. pioneer in this kind of treatment. Austrian-born Kramer founded the first program at New York University in 1944.
The greatest time of growth for art therapy is often thought to have occurred during the mid-1950s when it gradually became accepted as a beneficial clinical discipline that could be effective for all types of growth in children. Today, expressive arts therapy can be an important tool for assessing and treating people of all ages, including older adults, and can even be effectively used within families.
What to look for in an art therapist
By having a better understanding of what's required to be an art therapist and provide services, it may be easier to evaluate whether this method would be a good fit for your needs. A registered art therapist is generally a mental health professional and an artist, but the focus of their education and graduate degree is almost always on mental health.
The minimum education level to become an art therapist is typically a master's degree in art therapy from American Art Therapy Association (AATA)-accredited programs with credentials through the Art Therapy Credentials Board. These programs typically include content areas like psychopathology, counseling theory, ethical and legal issues, and more. Depending on where they practice, the art therapy application may also require state licenses, AATA certification, or both, and the therapist must abide by all ethical standards set by the AATA. For more information on credentialled programs and required professional credentials, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs provides in-depth details regarding accreditation and credentialled, graduate level art therapy programs.
Art therapists work to manage behavior and mental health conditions and increase self-esteem through artistic self-expression. It's usually not necessary for art therapists to be gifted artists in order to have a successful counseling practice. However, helping and healing others through art therapy normally requires art therapists to have a foundational understanding of visual art and the arts in general. You should expect your art therapist to practice with various types of art media, such as painting, drawing, sculpture, pottery-making, and other art forms. They may even have studied a particular art medium or related field in their undergraduate studies.
The practice of art therapy usually requires education in human development and counseling theory, and a student will receive training in both art and therapeutic techniques. Art therapists should generally have training in an entry-level practice or in different treatment settings to successfully guide their patients through the creative process and educate them on how it works to improve well-being.
Finding a therapist
Art therapists may work in many different therapeutic and community settings. They may have a non-public practice or be a part of a larger system. Here are several of the most common settings for treatment from a credentialed art therapist:
- Medical and psychiatric hospitals and clinics
- Outpatient treatment facilities, including colleges and universities
- Shelters
- Correctional institutions
- Nursing homes and assisted living communities
- Halfway houses
- Residential facilities
- Rehabilitation care units
- Wellness centers
- Forensic institutions
- Clinical research facilities
- Detention centers
- Crisis centers
- The client’s personal residence
What do sessions with art therapists look like?
Art therapists sometimes work alone in independent practices, but mental health disorders can be complex to treat. For this reason, art therapists more commonly work as part of a multi-disciplinary team that may include a combination of doctors, nurses, rehabilitation staff, social workers, and teachers.
Just as it can be important to understand what an art therapist does, it can also be important to know what they don't do in their job. An art therapist usually doesn't teach art and doesn't critique the client's art.
Mechanisms of how it works?
Typically, art therapy works in two distinct ways. Art therapists may use it as a way for patients to express themselves freely, much like Hill and Adamson did in the 1940s. Art therapists may guide the activities, but they normally don't critique the client's work or attempt to analyze it. It can merely be a way for clients to turn their thoughts and emotions into an art form.
The second way that this counseling can prove beneficial is for the art therapist to choose an art project that allows the patient to create art while thinking about the process and the medium. This may help people develop skills that increase their cognitive ability, increase awareness of themselves and their interactions with others, and use art as therapy and a coping mechanism.
There may be an infinite number of ideas for art therapy projects. When interviewing a potential therapist, you might ask for some examples of their favorite projects and why they think they can be helpful.
How do I know if one can help?
According to the American Art Therapy Association, it can be useful to pursue art therapy as a form of psychotherapy for those who experience trauma or illness, have difficulty coping with the challenges of daily life, and desire a sense of personal fulfillment.
It can be especially helpful for the following:
- Medical impairments
- Educational difficulties
- Developmental disorders
- Psycho-social impairment
- Trauma-related issues resulting from neglect, abuse, combat, or natural disaster
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Cancer
- Depression
- Autism
- Personality disorders
- Dementia
- Severe stress and anxiety
- Grief
- Behavioral disorders in children
In addition to treating individuals, art therapists may also work with couples who need help with emotional conflicts and families who need help healing relationships.
Online therapy
You may find qualified art therapists with specialized education within your own community. You can also find online art therapists who practice virtually. As this study shows, art therapy delivered online can be effective in improving mental health. Online therapy may be more available for those in remote areas or those who do not have art therapists in their local area. Attending therapy from the comfort of home may also remove some of the anxiety that can come from connecting with a therapist in person.
Takeaway
Art therapy is a type of treatment that can be used alone or in conjunction with other treatments for a wide demographic of people. Art therapy can be applied to countless illnesses and disorders. It’s one of the few treatment modalities that can be successfully used with a wide variety of ages, including very young children, adolescents, adults, and senior citizens coping with the many challenges of daily life.
Art therapy practitioners may treat a range of people in their practice, from those who desire a higher quality of life to those with complex psychological challenges. Art therapy can work well as a stand-alone therapy and as a component of other physical and mental health treatment programs, and it can be completed in person or online.
What is the difference between an art therapist and a regular therapist?
Both art therapists and other types of therapists work in the mental health profession, offering therapeutic services for mental health issues. Art therapists are different than regular therapists in that they use visual arts as a medium with which to support clients.
What is the efficacy of art therapy in addressing mental health challenges compared to more traditional therapeutic methods?
Art therapy and other traditional forms of therapy are equally effective in addressing mental health challenges. Which type of therapy a person chooses depends on their needs. Art therapy may be useful for people who have difficulty expressing their emotions, difficulty communicating verbally, or who have experienced trauma.
How do art therapists tailor sessions to address specific mental health needs?
Art therapists tailor their art therapy techniques to the needs of their various clients by assessing the client’s needs through observation and conversation. They might then offer a variety of mediums that the client can choose from. They might also allow the client to freely explore their creativity or they might give the client directive prompts to follow. Throughout the therapeutic process, the therapist will revise and adapt their techniques as they continue to work with a client.
In what ways does an art therapist help clients use creative expression to explore and process their mental health conditions?
Art therapists facilitate exploration with various art media, such as drawing, painting, collage, and sculpture, so that clients can express themselves creatively. Such creative, tactile, non-verbal expression can enhance clients’ self-awareness and help them to process emotions.
How can art therapy help clients improve communication and emotional expression?
Art therapy services help clients improve communication and emotional expression by providing a non-verbal outlet for feelings and ideas.
What role does an art therapist play in improving mental health through art therapy?
An art therapist helps to improve mental health by creating a safe therapeutic environment and allowing the client to explore feelings through visual arts. This can lead to improved self-awareness, communication, self-esteem, and social skills and reduction in stress.
What are the skills you need to be an art therapist?
Skills that an art therapist needs are therapeutic techniques learned in a degree program and during clinical supervision; the ability to be patient, empathetic, and observant; and knowledge of visual arts media and techniques.
Is becoming an art therapist rewarding?
Many art therapists find that it is rewarding to practice art therapy. Art therapists can work in diverse settings such as schools, prisons, hospitals or own practice and support people in living more fulfilling lives.
Is art therapy real?
Yes, art therapy is a real therapy modality that is practiced in different settings. It has been proven to be effective in treating mental health issues.
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