Wednesday, 13 February 2013

How Art Therapy Could Help In Counseling

By Susan Standforth


Exactly what is art therapy and what is it used for? By definition, art therapy is made use of in psychotherapy as a non-verbal means of expression in between the patient and the therapist. You don't need to be an artist to exercise art therapy, nor does the patient need to be especially talented to be able to take part in the art tasks.

Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy in which patients use art making to express their thoughts and emotions without having to speak. It is also a type of projective technique used by therapists to see into the deeper workings of a patient's mind.

Lots of patients, especially those with post traumatic stress, choose not to talk about the occasions that triggered their injury. Occasionally, the occasions that happened are too difficult to bear and the victim chooses to shut them out.

Incest, for example, is a really fragile subject for individuals to discuss, especially with people they do not yet trust. Art therapy could be made use of as an ice-breaker for the therapist to acquire more trust and to make the patient more comfortable. The therapist might ask the patient to paint a certain picture or to draw something on a piece of paper.

Unconsciously, patients would really start to draw how they feel and what they wish to occur. Even if they don't want to talk about the things that happened to them, therapists could quickly find out what's going on by the lines, colors, as well as the spacing in their illustrations. And even when they start to chat, words are in some cases not nearly enough to show every little thing that's going on inside the mind of a victim. Art therapy helps them release the unfavorable ideas and feelings they are struggling with.

Art therapy for counseling is a non-threatening technique for patients to engage in without having to be pressured to talk. It gives them time to be aware of their own situations and allows them to become comfortable and achieve trust with their therapist.




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