Art Therapy: A Comprehensive Analysis of its Practices and Impact

This essay provides an overview of art therapy as a form of treatment in mental healthcare. It emphasizes the use of art media for exploring feelings, resolving emotional conflicts, and fostering self-awareness. The essay details how art therapy helps manage behavior, develop social skills, and improve reality orientation, ultimately reducing anxiety and boosting self-esteem. It highlights the need for art therapists to possess knowledge of visual arts, creative processes, human development, and psychological techniques. The essay then discusses the various settings where art therapy is utilized, including hospitals, schools, and community centers, and underscores its benefits for individuals with developmental, psychological, and social impairments, as well as those experiencing trauma or physical health conditions. The essay concludes by summarizing that art therapy enhances self-awareness, personal development, and coping skills, and is becoming increasingly integrated into mainstream treatment procedures with positive outcomes.

Running head: ART THERAPY
ART THERAPY
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In mental healthcare, art therapy is a form of treatment where clients are helped by art therapists
to explore their feelings. This treatment mainly uses art media as a creative procedure which help
them to reconcile different emotional conflicts and foster self awareness (Rubin). It also helps
them to manage behaviour and addictions and help them to develop social skills and improve
reality orientation. This also helps them in the reduction of anxiety and thereby helps increasing
of self esteem.
One of the main goals in this form of treatment is to improve as well as restore the functioning of
the client and also to develop his or her own perception of well being. This mainly requires the
art therapist to master the knowledge regarding visual art which includes drawing, sculpture
painting, and different forms of art forms. The therapist also has to gain knowledge about
creative process as well as different human developmental stages along with different
psychological and counseling techniques and theories.
In the present day, art therapy is widely utilized in a different settings which include different
healthcare centers. These can range from including hospitals, psychiatric facilities, wellness
centers, rehabilitation centers, forensic institutions, schools, community centers, crisis centers
and many other clinical and community centers (Case et al.). Therapists can conduct sessions
singly or in groups. In such sessions, therapist usually try to elicit their cline’s’ inherent
capacities for making of art for enhancement of the physical, mental as well as different
emotional well being of the individuals.
Researchers are of the opinion that such therapy is of great benefits within a professional
relationship as it provides therapeutic benefits which is obtained though artistic self expression
along with the reflection of individuals who are going through illness, trauma and different

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mental health problems as well as for those who seek personal growth (Talwar). People who are
going through developmental, educational, mental, psychological as well as social impairment
gets good benefit from such sessions. People suffering from trauma like abuse, combats, and
natural disasters also find it helpful (Pratt, Mandy Michele). Person who also suffers from
serious physical health conditions like cancer, traumatic brain injury as well as different types of
disability are benefitted. Patients of art therapist also include persons who are suffering form
autism, depression, dementia and several different disorders.
Art therapy is mainly found to help people resolve different types of conflicts as well as help in
improvement of different interpersonal skills. They also help to manage problematic behaviors
and reduction of negative stress (Kaiser). Researchers also state that help in achieving personal
insight. Moreover, it also provides opportunity for the clients to enjoy the life affirming pleasures
of art making.
Thus form the entire discussion above, it can be concluded that art therapy is a form of treatment
which helps in the creation of art which helps in the increasing of awareness of self and others.
This actually helps in personal development by increasing coping skills and enhancing cognitive
functions. It is mainly based on human development, personality theories, family systems,
education on art and psychology. This form of treatment is gradually getting included in
mainstream treatment procedures and contains positive evidences of success.

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References:
Case, Caroline, and Tessa Dalley. The handbook of art therapy. Routledge, 2014.
Kaiser, Donna, and Sarah Deaver. "Establishing a research agenda for art therapy: A Delphi
study." Art Therapy 30.3 (2013): 114-121.
Pratt, Mandy, and Michele Wood, eds. Art therapy in palliative care: The creative response.
Routledge, 2015.
Rubin, Judith Aron, ed. Approaches to art therapy: Theory and technique. Routledge, 2016.
Talwar, Savneet. "Ethics, Law, and Cultural Competence in Art Therapy." (2017): 102-105.