The Benefits of Art Therapy and Counseling

by LongmanSex on Sunday, October 21, 2012

By Sarah Ramsey


You may be asking what is art therapy and counseling. The answer is simple. It is counseling which uses art in an effort to enhance the mental and physical health of the patient. It is believed that art in any form can help people work through conflicts and problems by relaxing the patient and allowing them a thing called self-expression. The only real requirement is the ability to let go of your mind and allow yourself to draw whatever you feel inside. Around the mid-twentieth century, English speaking and European regions began to consider art as a form of therapy when combined with counseling. They discovered that it is a useful tool for adults and children who have behavioral issues, mental or learning disabilities, as well as brain injuries or other neurological issues. It can be used to help patients who have had a traumatic experience heal their minds and help people who have life threatening ailments to cope.

Art therapy and counseling keeps the hands and the mind bustling while releasing imaginative energy that unwinds the customer. That permits them to become less inhibited and lets them develop defenses against whatever disease is holding them back. By releasing the mind and drawing whatever an individual feels like drawing a counselor can then see how the client feels. They can determine whether he is despondent, delighted, or unfortunate about whatever scenario is represented in the art work.

Art therapy counselors can be especially useful in the therapy of autistic kids who have problems revealing their feelings. It permits the therapist the capability to adapt treatment to the kid as opposed to subjecting the kid to treatment which has actually been shown to be counterproductive in the past. Art treatment and counseling does not mean that you need to have a great artistic talent. You simply draw, build sculptures or do any other kind of creative act that you feel is relaxing and that permits you to release your mind enough to look inside.

The art therapy counselors have to have a strong background in psychology as well as art and they've studied at a masters level. It requires about three years schooling to learn all the different ways to interpret the artwork of their patients. They work closely with people of all age groups. They can work with individual people or work with people in a group depending on the patient's particular needs. Art therapists are found in many different settings including but not limited to schools, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and hospitals.

Anyone can use art therapy and counseling. You don't necessarily have to have a specific problem with behavior or other mental issues. It can be done from the comfort of your home whenever you want to gain perspective on your thoughts or if you simply need to take a break and relax for a little while. Anytime you focus on something other than the problems at hand you will find yourself feeling free of the stresses of everyday life. That in itself is a kind of therapy.




About the Author:



Leave a Reply