Creating art for healing purposes dates back tens of hundreds of yearsto the practices of First Nations people around the globe. Art therapy uses creative processes, primarily visual art comparable to painting, drawing or sculpture, with a view to improving physical health and emotional wellbeing.
When people face significant physical or mental ill-health, it may possibly be difficult to put their experiences into words. Art therapists support people to explore and process overwhelming thoughts, feelings and experiences through a reflective art-making process. This is distinct from art classeswhich frequently deal with technical elements of the artwork, or the aesthetics of the ultimate product.
Art therapy may be used to support treatment for a big selection of physical and mental health conditions. It has been linked to advantages including improved self-awareness, social connection and emotional regulation, while lowering levels of distress, anxiety and even pain scores.
In a study published this week within the Journal of Mental Healthwe found art therapy was related to positive outcomes for kids and adolescents in a hospital-based mental health unit.
An option for individuals who can’t find the words
While an individual’s engagement in talk therapies may sometimes be affected by the character of their illness, verbal reflection is optional in art therapy.
Where possible, after ending an artwork, an individual can explore the meaning of their work with the art therapist, translating unspoken symbolic material into verbal reflection.
However, because the talking component is less central to the therapeutic process, art therapy is an accessible option for individuals who may not have the ability to seek out the words to explain their experiences.
Art therapy has supported improved mental health outcomes for individuals who have experienced traumaindividuals with eating disorders, schizophrenia and dementia, in addition to children with autism.
Art therapy has also been linked to improved outcomes for individuals with a spread of physical health conditions. These include lower levels of tension, depression and fatigue amongst individuals with cancerenhanced psychological stability for patients with heart diseaseand improved social connection amongst individuals who have experienced a traumatic brain injury.
Art therapy has been related to improved mood and anxiety levels for patients in hospitaland lower pain, tiredness and depression amongst palliative care patients.
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Our research
Mental ill-health, including amongst children and young peoplepresents a significant challenge for our society. While most care takes place locallya small proportion of young people require care in hospital to make sure their safety.
In this environment, practices that place even greater restriction, comparable to seclusion or physical restraint, could also be used briefly as a final resort to make sure immediate physical safety. However, these “restrictive practices” are related to negative effects comparable to post-traumatic stress for patients and health professionals.
Worryingly, staff report an absence of alternatives to maintain patients protected. However, the elimination of restrictive practices is a significant aim of mental health services in Australia and internationally.
Our research checked out greater than six years of information from a baby and adolescent mental health hospital ward in Australia. We sought to find out whether there was a discount in restrictive practices through the periods when art therapy was offered on the unit, in comparison with times when it was absent.
We found a transparent association between the supply of art therapy and reduced frequency of seclusion, physical restraint and injection of sedatives on the unit.
We don’t know the precise reason for this. However, art therapy could have lessened levels of severe distress amongst patients, thereby reducing the danger they’d harm themselves or others, and the likelihood of staff using restrictive practices to forestall this.
Author provided
That said, hospital admission involves multiple therapeutic interventions including talk-based therapies and medications. Confirming the effect of a therapeutic intervention requires controlled clinical trials where individuals are randomly assigned one treatment or one other.
Although ours was an observational study, randomised controlled trials support the advantages of art therapy in youth mental health services. For instance, a 2011 hospital-based study showed reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder amongst adolescents randomised to trauma-focussed art therapy in comparison with a “control” arts and crafts group.
Author provided
What do young people think?
In previous research we found art therapy was considered by adolescents in hospital-based mental health care to be essentially the most helpful group therapy intervention in comparison with other talk-based therapy groups and inventive activities.
In research not yet published, we’re speaking with young people to higher understand their experiences of art therapy, and why it’d reduce distress. One young person accessing art therapy in an acute mental health service shared:
[Art therapy] is a way of form of letting out your emotions in a way that doesn’t involve being judged […] It let me release a variety of stuff that was bottling up and stuff that I couldn’t explain through words.
A promising area
The burgeoning research showing the advantages of art therapy for each physical and particularly mental health highlights the worth of creative and revolutionary approaches to treatment in health care.
There are opportunities to expand art therapy services in a spread of health-care settings. Doing so would enable greater access to art therapy for individuals with quite a lot of physical and mental health conditions.