Art Therapies And Its Impact On Cognition

According to Naumburg (1966), the process of art therapy is based on one’s fundamental thoughts and feelings that are obtained from the unconscious and often express in images rather than in words. Understanding the techniques of art therapy are based on every individual’s knowledge that whether trained or untrained in art, the individual all have a unconscious ability to project inner thoughts or conflicts into images. In other words, everyone does not have to be a skilled artist to do art therapy; any form of art is acceptable. For example: scribbling on a piece of paper can be art therapy because the act of scribbling transforms the unconscious thought into an image. (Naumburg, 1966).

Art therapy enables people with dementia to express their feelings when words cannot (AATA, 2015). Art therapy explores the client’s feelings, resolves emotional conflicts and fosters their self-awareness with the use of art media, the creative process and the resulting finished artwork as a therapeutic and healing process. Furthermore, art therapy helps manage client’s behavior, develop social skills, improves reality orientation, and reduces anxiety and increase self-esteem. Art therapy benefits people of all ages facing different challenges in life and is an effective treatment for people experiencing developmental, medical, educational and social or psychological impairment (AATA,

Art as a therapeutic method was my primary focus throughout the psychology program at Ryerson University. I am familiar with much research regarding art therapy for mental disorders such as depression

Art therapy is a Multi-Functional Psychological therapy that helps the mental mind in connecting things that are disconnected like a patient with alzheimer's where the patient's medial temporal lobe that’s the part of the brain that controls memory. The medial temporal lobe is vital in the brain because that is where the brain recollects the memories and stores them. When you get older the lobe gets weaker in which causes it to disconnect thus causing “memory loss” or dementia. In art therapy we like to cause a visual reconnection of that nerve so in which a patient then can remember more but in a visual stance as in some people like to look at photographs to visually which allows memories to reconnect. These programs are put into place to help anyone with mental issues they are put in place just to help.

When children are presented with Art Therapy, it may be geared towards creative style and imagination.

Art therapy is said to use “three levels of intervention.” These levels include engaging in the clients senses through the physical manipulation of art materials, using the client’s art as a “symbolic container of their traumatic memories, and “cognitive reflection” guided by the art therapist. The therapist helps to “guide” where the client’s focus lays in terms of their traumatic memories; the goal of the therapist is to help the client integrate elements of their experience, other than the extremely negative, into their

According to an article published in Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art therapy Association, “…art therapy strengthened personal, spiritual and social development” (pg. 72, Kapitan, Litell, Torres, 2011). Additionally, it could also help children reduce “acute stress symptom” (pg. 103, Chapman, Morabito, Ladakakos, Schreier, Knudson, 2001). This type of therapy can be used to build child’s self-esteem by encouraging them to express themselves openly through art.

Patients without an art background must learn from some of the basic skills of art to fully embrace the role of art therapy (Qiu-Yue Wang, Dong Mei Li, 2016). Because these diseases are degenerative, the patients in an art therapy session can be in different stages of disease. The requirement to learn art can cause frustration and agitation in some patients, further increasing the burden on themselves as well as their caregivers. The success of non-pharmacological treatments could be affected by the cultural background of the person, since different people can have various responses to the same intervention program (Chen et al, 2014). In regards to the studies about art therapy interventions, the period, duration, and frequency of the interventions vary between studies (Qiu-Yue Wang, Dong Mei Li, 2016). It is therefore difficult to classify the risks and benefits of art therapy since the measurable quantities are limited. The ability to judge a patients progression of disease through art is a subjective evaluation that has little merit. The majority of studies investigated the care burden via interview, which may also be subjective; in future studies, it is necessary to use qualitative and quantitative methods to perform in-depth analyses of the benefits of art therapy (Qiu-Yue Wang, Dong Mei Li,

How does a person maintain that connection when they can no longer remember their own story? Alzheimer’s disease patients understand this struggle more than anyone. Alzheimer’s disease is a cognitive degenerative disease that strips its victim’s identities from them. It takes over their minds and their very lives. However, art therapists have begun the practice of understanding those losing cognitive processes. Art therapy with confirmation through mental autopsy is able to diagnose new cases with Alzheimer’s disease and separate the differences between senility, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurocognitive disorders. There is an increase in attempts to gain more research to discern fact from myth about why people develop this disorder or what the explanation is for how the disease forms to begin with, and if there is any cure. Many health facilities have conformed in order to accommodate for the challenges that arise accompanying this disease. To understand the basics of Alzheimer’s disease, one must learn how professionals read the signs and diagnose this disorder, what form it takes in an individual, probable sources for where it originates from assuming there is a known source, how art therapists have come to diagnose and comprehend complex minds with this disease, and how having this disease is not a normal development of aging. It is in fact a disease, deadly and violent to the brain’s

The National Health Survey exemplified mental and behavioural conditions to be the highest major long-term health condition experienced by Australians in 2014-2015 (ABS 2015). As mental health conditions contribute significantly to the burden of illness and injury in the Australian community, it is fundamental safe and quality therapeutic treatment practices are implemented for people experiencing mental illness in a clinical context (ACSQHC 2010; AIHW 2016). To address and alleviate the increasing prevalence and severity of mental illness in the community, a number of studies have identified the pressing need to implement innovative and effective approaches such as art-based therapy practices in acute psychiatric settings (Blomdahl

Cognitive aging is worthy of study for many reasons. The more knowledge that is uncovered about cognitive aging, the closer to possibly finding ways to slow the process down, decrease the intensity of the symptoms, or maybe prevent it all together. If there are possible ways of doing so it is important to find them. The “what” and “when” of cognitive aging has made advances, but the “why”, “where”, and “how” are still to be uncovered. We further our knowledge of the “why”, “where”, or “how”, or uncover the full truth, without knowing the full truth about the “what” and “when”. Finding out more about one might lead to learning more about another. Expanding our knowledge on cognitive aging has the potential to increase someone’s quality of life. It has the potential to increase that family member’s quality of life. Cognitive aging effects more than the victim, it effects their

Take a moment and think about a time when you felt overly worried or nervous. How did you deal with these emotions? What activities or behaviours did you engage in? Did they help you calm down?

Art therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem. A goal in art therapy is to improve or restore a client’s functioning and his or her sense of personal well-being.

Expressive arts therapy is the use of art modalities, creative process, and aesthetic experience in a therapeutic context. It is a therapy of the imagination (McNiff, 1992). Effective communication is an essential element in therapeutic relationships and, although verbal language is the most conventional means of conveying information, other forms can convey just as much as words. The arts are an alternative form of communication that has recently received recognition for their value in therapeutic settings. There is a long well-established connection between the arts and psychology. Expressive arts therapy builds on a natural, complimentary relationship between the two disciplines. As a formal therapy, this form is relatively new with its

Western traditions narrowly define art as a market-oriented specialized discipline (Levine & Levine, 2004). When art is used therapeutically, content and meaning take priority over mechanics and technicalities.