Art Therapy
by Anne
Stone
October 29, 2000
History
Art Therapy is
still relatively new. The Swiss Psychoanalysist Carl Jung used painting and modeling
to help patients express their inner-most feelings. It was Jung’s work that
inspired British born Irene Champernawne to set up a centre for “Psychotherapy
through the Arts.” Irene was a psychotherapist and her husband, who helped her
run the centre, was an art teacher. Art therapy as also used in mental
hospitals and Freudian psychoanalysists used the pictures as clues to what was
going on in the patientís minds.
Who Can It Help?
Art therapy is
used to help people with emotional problems. It helps them express their
deepest thoughts and feeling visually. Group art therapy is recommended for
people who have difficulty relating to others, or people with physical or
mental handicaps that interfere with communication. Those with a low opinion of
themselves can gain confidence throughout therapy. It is also useful to those
suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction, anorexia and bulimia.
How Does It Work?
The basis of
art therapy is that people draw pictures, paint or make models. Patients who
are worried about their artistic ability are reassured from the beginning their
work is more of a way of expression than a work of art. The act of producing
the art is very therapeutic for the patient, and the work can be analysed by
the therapist to discover any underlying problems. The artwork allows for
expression without words, which is why it is particularly helpful for those
with communication problems. Therapists are professionally qualified, sensitive
and good listeners. As conflicts, fears and needs emerge in the patients work
the therapist helps them to work through their feelings and resolve their
problems. Art therapy is considered alternative because it combines visual arts
with psychotherapy in a way that is still new and unusual in medicine