The New Year brings about opportunities to try something fresh and healthful for you. Many people have heard the term art therapy but not many people know what it involves and who can benefit from it. Adults in particular may feel uncertain to try this type of therapy because of the term art is in the title, and art is often synonymous with artist.
In truth, anyone can participate in art therapy because art therapy is fun, freeing and often very profound. There are so many ways we communicate to one another, art is simple another mode of communication.
To give an example, instead of beginning a session by talking about yourself, your art therapy session may begin by looking at images from the media and picking out the images that you relate to most. What we like or don’t like about art is another part of our personality that is fun to explore and integrates our thoughts and emotions.
Art therapy can develop different skills for different people. It can be used for counseling, healing, relieving stress and a creative outlet. There is no requirement to create a masterpiece, so have no fear of expressing yourself through art because you can’t do it wrong. It may seem funny at first because of your desire to create something “good”, but after you have freed yourself of your own judgment, imagine the other ways you can feel this carefree.
