Example Of Expressive Art Therapy

Trauma is defined as having a deeply distressing or disturbing experience, or having a physical injury.

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

I have always shown a deep interest in psychotherapy and since last year I began to pursue this in London studying at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education (IATE). Moreover, during my year at IATE I learnt a range of integrative psychotherapeutic theory and experiential exercises using the arts.

Cathy Malchiodi observes the pattern for the use of art expression in helping individuals to express crisis and trauma through imagery. The therapeutic benefit of nonverbal communication

2013). Ultimately, to ensure the provision of art-based therapies in mental health care are informed, evidence-based and embody the principles of clinical governance for safe and quality practice, the literature surrounding this issue must be appraised through a critique and synthesis

Trauma is an event or situation created psychological. This is when a trauma overwhelms the individual ability to cope and leaves the person fearing death, annihilation,

expression; it has its roots in the transference in relation between the patient and the therapist, and on the encouragement of free association”. It is therefore closely allied to psychoanalytic therapy. Florence Cane’s contributions to the origins of art therapy are less known than those of her sister Margaret Naumburg. The “Scribble technique” described in Florence Cane’s book ‘The Artist in Each of Us’ (1983) has historically been employed by art therapists as a technique to reduce inhibitions and liberate spontaneous imagery from the unconscious. (Art Therapy; by Hones Michael ;2013) P111. Michael Edwards was a painter, pioneer art therapist, analytical psychologist and curator of the picture archive of the artwork of patients of C.G. Jung. He was born in 1930 on the outskirts of London. He was an early and leading proponent of the field of art therapy. Edwards observed that Jung made art about his inner experiences as a vivid source of personal insight into his situation; this in turn informed the development of his psychological theories. No other major psychologist has attended to his own inner life through imagery in this way. As a Jungian teacher and practitioner. Edwards influenced the field of art therapy internationally to appreciate the potential of symbols and images to carry multiple and ambiguous meaning.

Art therapy is something that is used to help cope and overcome troubling situations in life. Art allows people to experience the relaxation of the muscles (Alban) and nerves while calming him/her down, and allowing them to gain full or almost full control over their life and emotions. Art is a way of subcontiousaly expressing emotions that were ignored or suppressed; art allows people to express themselves. Then once it becomes prominent, art therapy becomes a way to learn more about one’s self and it can also help heal mental issues or handicaps that have not been

Another more modern definition depicts trauma as, “an overwhelming event that threatens the health, safety, and security of the individual and cannot be emotionally and cognitively processed” (Summers & Barber, 2010). As clinicians, if one chooses to work with this definition, it is important to take both parts of it into consideration when assessing patients, because the concept of trauma has taken on a different meaning in societal terms. More often than not, people will consider any emotional experience they cannot seem to process after going through an experience as trauma. An example of this would be the loss of a loved one. While it may be a very challenging experience for some, grief for someone who has died is generally not considered a trauma under

Originally the word “trauma” is derived from the Greek word “traumatizo” which means “wound”. It is “a piercing of the skin, a breaking of the bodily envelope” (Garland, 1998, p. 9). In Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud describes trauma as a mental disturbance of survivors of devastating events which involve a risk of life, such as railway disasters, accidents, or the terrible war which has just ended (Freud, 1990, p. 104).

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

Almost every theoretical orientation has adapted the use and techniques of expressive arts therapy in some way. Humanistic psychology, for example, emphasizes the importance of play, creativity, and spontaneity. The creative process is intrinsic to self-actualization. Self-actualization makes life more meaningful and enhances abilities,

Worden, J. (2009). Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy A Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner. 4th ed. New York:

In fact, the use of art, music, play and other forms to convey your feelings can encourage a therapeutic communication of raw emotions. Expressive therapies are especially useful when clients want to communicate aspects of their memories that they may not be ready to talk about in conversations. Memories in particular have been reported to emerge through touch, imagery, or carefully guided body movements. (Malchiodi,