What is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is simply put the use of art making to achieve therapeutic goals. Art therapy is based on the idea that humans use and interact with art materials in a way that replicates or reflects how they move through life. For example, if someone struggles with being too rigid and controlling, they may use materials in a hyper controlled way. Our goal then, would be to work toward increased flexibility and fluidity of materials and art making processes as a way to practice this way of being in a safe and contained way.

Art therapy has many advantages. One of those is that making art can allow clients to process thoughts, feelings and memories without having to verbalize them. Art making has a way of circumventing, or getting around, some of the defense mechanisms we use when verbally processing (such as avoiding certain topics). This circumventing can lead to addressing underlying issues more quickly than in talk therapy. *

Another is that art therapy allows people to externalize their internal world. Sometimes our thoughts and feelings are too close. It can be hard to examine them when they are exclusively inside us. However, when we externalize them, it can give us literal and psychological distance, making it easier to observe ourselves with compassion and balance.

*This process still requires the consent and knowledge of clients, the goal is NOT to “trick” or manipulate anyone into sharing.

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