What is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy, in which the participants can individually and creatively express themselves to improve their mental, spiritual, and physical well-being. Through the process one can tap into their mental worlds and understand their states and emotions, thus increasing self-awareness. Art therapy can take the form of various activities, including painting, drawing, dancing, singing. The participants don't need to be professional artists, as long as they are willing to put in an effort.

 

 

 

 

One of the most primitive art therapies is Rorschach’s inkblot. Made by Hermann Rorschach, Rorschach’s inkblot is a series of projective tests using inkblot to explore the condition and inner mental worlds of patients, through which the psychotherapist can decide on the appropriate treatment. The participants are given a picture of ink-blots and imagine what they see, which will be used to determine their mental states. Due to its uncertain reliability, more forms of art therapy, where the individual immersion of the participants is emphasized, have been developed and practiced.

 

 

Why is Art Therapy effective?

Through art one can increase their perception and self-perception, which helps the participants be ground on the present, bodily, and emotionally aware during the worst time.

Art can help reinforce self-image, increase self-acceptance, and identity. Also, it can help control emotional impulsiveness by making the participants experience raw emotion and face it upfront, thus boosting self-confidence and self-efficacy.

Art and artistic expression can also make the participants recognize their behavior towards them and towards others, providing the opportunity to alternate their actions towards themselves and others.

Art can provide insight and comprehension; specifically, art can open their deepest thoughts, emotions, and feelings, which give self-understanding for further action.

 

 

 

 

How does Art Therapy affect your psychological well-being?  

Jacob Devaney wrote an article on the Natural Blaze website about how art therapy improves consciousness that the observation of a profound piece of art can trigger multiple neurons as the artists created their works, which builds new neural pathways and stimulates a state of inspiration. He named it embodied cognition.

Bob Bryant, Executive Director of Fine Arts at Katy, ISD, stated the importance of art in the education program, in which education and engagements in arts play a vital role in the personal development of each human being.

Dr. Dacher Keltner from the University of Berkeley explained that beauty and wonder in the art could directly influence your health and life expectancy. Silagh Mirgain further expanded the benefits of how the physical body and mental state will be improved through art therapy

Stress is also an essential psychological factor that negatively affects an individual's living quality. A medical publication from a researcher explained that engagement with creative and imaginative activities could help reduce stress and depression and alleviate chronic disease.

To quote Leonardo Da Vinci, who discovered how creativity and art affect your brain: “Painting embraces all the ten functions of the eye; that is to say, darkness, light, body and color, shape and location, distance and closeness, motion and rest."

 

 

Want to know about how art can help to haul our minds, check out this blog!

 

 

Reflection on TOUCH: Deaf-blind artists of Maják

On 20/11/2019, an exhibition called TOUCH: Deafblind artists took place in Zuidas Amsterdam.

The exhibition explored the world of outsider art and a showcase of more than 15 artworks from Maják residents. The 4 artists from Maják are known for their auditory and visual impairment, but by creative expression through art therapy, they managed to get a mental and emotional grip of themselves through their artistic exploration of their ego and their inner worlds, which can be proven impossible with their use of their non-functional eyes and ears.

 

 

  

 

 

Results of Art Therapy 

With the help of art, you can improve your mental, as well as physical health. In Victory Art’s shop stands artworks that can give you a sense of relief and self-enlightenment. Check us out here.

If you want to more of the Maják collection, you can click here. We also prepared some de-stress drawing sessions for you to watch and enjoy. If you have more questions about our art services, or if you need help on selecting the most suitable one in our collection. Feel free to book an appointment with us!

 

 

 

 

CHECK OUT OUR BEST BLOGS