Art Therapy Is A Mental Health Profession

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).

It is easy to dismiss art therapy and to look upon it as a pleasant but unnecessary intervention for older adults because it is not perceived as a cure. Art therapy utilizes visual art making mediums such as painting, drawing, and sculpture (Malchiodi, 2011). The creative process of art making employs the ability of art to express thoughts and feelings in nonverbal communication. Its purpose is to maintain or improve mental and emotional well-being (Malchiodi, 2011). It is worth considering art therapy as a treatment option, aging can cause a significant amount of loss. Deteriorating physical health or decline in cognition, caring for a loved one who is suffering from Alzheimers, dementia or some other form of lost capabilities, loss of independence, social isolation, and grief caused by the death of spouse/partner, or friends are common events that older adults live with. This can affect a person's sense of well being and purpose in life which has been associated with negative effects on their physical health (Pinquart, 2002). Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety can increase in people 65 years old and older. Art therapy is particularly good at addressing mental health issues that affect a person's sense of wellbeing. A review of Outcome Studies (Slayton, D'Archer, & Kaplan, 2010) concluded that there is a pool of quantifiable data to support the claim that variety of symptoms, age groups, and disorders can be effectively treated with art therapy. Loss is

The consensus regarding art is art is for artists, or it’s merely a hobby. But, what if art could alleviate symptoms of depression, or help those with PTSD? All of us has had to deal with some form of psychological issues in our lives. Whether causation of the problem is stress from work, caring for children or parents, cognitive decline, illness, depression, death, trauma or violent crime, these issues have affected us all. “… art can engage the mind and emotions more effectively than other forms of therapy” (Habib & Ali, 9). Society should implement art therapy in conjunction with traditional treatments in the above mentioned psychological issues and instances of nonverbal or closed-off patients.

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.

CENTRAL IDEA: Art Therapy is not a common career choice when looking at popular jobs in the workforce; however, it is both a very interesting psychological and artistic career.

Fard, Farah Joan. "The expanding reach of art therapy: though it's a relatively new approach to mental health treatment, art therapy is gaining traction and making a difference in people's lives." Art Business News, Winter 2015, p. 34+. Fine Arts and Music Collection, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=PPFA&sw=w&u=hillsbor&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA436797590&it=r&asid=1bc151430b53c85d758e9329f6ecf46a. Accessed 22 Nov. 2017.

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

Creative arts therapists may work with a variety of people. They can work with children who need support and counseling, people that are in homeless shelters, and prisoners in a correctional facility. A prisoner explained how this unique type of therapy has helped them, “Drama showed me how to interact with others. Most of all, it gave me a way to have excitment in my life without the use of drugs.” Creative arts therapy can help anyone who is struggling with mental illnesses and can improve their mood to help them be happier and to help with daily

My senior art therapy capstone class gave me the tools not only to understand my personal art making process, but the benefits of artistic creation for other individuals as well. Through this final project, I was able to therapeutically process a traumatic event in my life and turn something negative into a positive light. Process-based art therapy highlights the educational and transformative properties of art making and natural creation.

When I transferred from UNCG I had overcome a very difficult emotional (what). I began to use my personal struggles to create these drawings of women who were dealing with internal struggles and whenever I drew I felt my mind release tension, a feeling of relaxation and freedom I could not get from anything else. Deciding to become an art therapist was one of the best decisions I have had. The idea of allowing all sorts of people with diverse backgrounds, emotional struggles or just pure imagination to express every bit of themselves in any medium gives me pure bliss. Intuitively I believe that everyone has a yearning to express how they feel and if I can help someone along their journey of self-discovery I'd be honored. I believe that God gave me the ability to use my hands to create transcendence in myself. Starting at a young age art was my backbone and strength, I was amazed daily with the pieces

Art therapy, the use of creative processes as a means of aiding one’s well-being. Art therapies allow individuals to express themselves through creative means. Often the process of making art is the core of the process of art therapy: through the work, individuals can experience themselves as empowered, valued, able to achieve, and able to deal with a task. Art can articulate deep feelings and can bring unconscious issues to the fore. Group art therapy approaches can also foster social interaction. Kruppers (2014) (para. 1).

To become an art therapist, there are certain duties, special skills and talents, as well as a higher education requirement. As an art therapist, I will need to be able to talk with clients, while involving studio art, such as drawing, painting, sculpting, etc., to asses the disorders or needs of the patient. I will have to write a progress report after every session and, using that, design sessions that are specific to one’s goals in therapy. In most practices, I will have to supervise staff, volunteers, or interns and purchase needed equipment. Depending on the institution I am working for, I will be able to plan art showcases or field trips to museums. The talents an art therapist needs tend be very communicationally skilled. One has to be socially perceptive, an active and appropriate listener, reasonably deductive, orally comprehensive, and recognize speech. Also, one needs to be able to critically think, make decisions, and coordinate

Among the fields of psychology there are different areas that can help people. One of the categories is therapy which is intended to relieve and treat disorders. A form of therapy is art therapy where people can express themselves by drawing, singing, dancing, poetry or acting. Art therapy is an interest to me because I enjoy expressing myself through art.

The way art was found to have a positive impact on therapy is considerately recent, in fact, art therapy before the 1940s wasn’t considered as a profession, and it wasn’t until then, that people started taking notice of the many benefits or arts. Throughout the early 20th century, established psychiatrists would only focus their attention on the arts from those produced by their patients suffering from mental disease. It is also during that time, that educators started discovering how arts created by children, showed a development on emotional and cognitive growth. It’s from these discoveries that from the 1940s to the 1950s, hospitals, psychiatrist and clinics started using art therapy, in conjunction with talk therapies (Malchiodi, 2013) to help patients recovered from distinct illness. Through all this time, art therapy became heavily emphasized due to the validation of improved recoveries, health, and wellness of their patient. Consequently, art therapy became more and more acceptable as an effective and valuable method of communication, evaluation, and treatments for children and adults in numerous sceneries. Currently, art therapy is attracting considerable attention from the medical field such as counseling, education, arts, psychology and psychiatry (Malchiodi, 2013).

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.