Art Therapy for Mental Health

Question: 'How does art therapy help for a combination of issues such as self esteem, anxiety, depression, irrational thoughts and delusion that lead to compulsive actions or triggers an emotional response?'

Answer:

Nature vs Nurture

We know that mental health issues are caused by nature (born with it) or nurture (how we are brought up, our life experiences), or both. Sometimes, adverse life experiences and stress could trigger mental health issues that were already present in our genes, but are expressed through the environment and experiences.

Art therapy can help with the 'nurture' aspect.

The brain is plastic (malleable), new neural pathways are formed when we change the way we do, think or feel things, or when we have new experiences. The older we get, the less plastic our brain gets. Younger people respond more favourably to therapeutic interventions, whereas the older we are, we get more set in our ways. However as long as we are alive, it is still possible for the brain to evolve.

Sense of Self

Self esteem, anxiety and depression do share some common root causes. 

Anxiety relates to one's sense of control and sense of self, and this ties in with self-esteem. Sometimes, traumatic experiences in our early life can cause a broken or inaccurate sense of self and self-esteem, and may cause us to feel like we may lack the power to influence and control our lives. We fear the unknown, instead of growing in creative and productive ways.

Explore, Express and Process Feelings and Traumatic Memories

Art therapy firstly offers a safe avenue and space for one to explore and express how we are feeling. Making art is a pre-verbal mode of expression, allowing us to access our subconscious before it is formed in words. It helps the person externalise the subconscious and become more self-aware. When we make the subconscious conscious, we are no longer suppressing our fears and shadows. They can then be integrated with the rest of the brain and into our lives so we are no longer ignoring and repressing it. Ignoring and repressing it can cause emotional outbursts or depression because we do not learn how to manage those emotions. (This answers the last part about compulsive action and triggering and emotional response)

Regulate Our Nervous System During Times of Stress

Depression is also linked to trauma and suppression. It is a stress mode where our nervous system is stuck in the 'frozen' state, we may become numb and dissociate so as not to feel the feelings that are difficult to manage. Often, these issues are also a result of 'faulty' early relationships with our caregivers, who may not have been in the position to provide for us and meet our needs in early life. It could also be caused by a traumatic event which fractures our concept of the world, making us believe it is a dangerous place. 

When we have too much stress or trauma, our bodies are stuck on fight, flight or freeze mode, we can have emotional outbursts or feel numb or lack motivation. Art therapy and Somatic Experiencing can help guide the person back into a healthy way of feeling one's body so they are better regulated and able to 'flow', not simply being stuck on either being over or under stimulated. 

Therapeutic Relationship

The therapist is there to provide a reparative relationship, to help the client feel safe and supported. This is through our behaviour, by caring, encouraging and being attuned to the client. Biologically it works through mirror neurons, when the person feels that another person is attuned to and cares for them, they are given the conditions to heal. By also highlighting the person's strengths and helping the client see who they really are, could help correct any distorted views they may have of themselves due to trauma. With the relational support of the therapist, the client can also explore traumatic memories, revisiting them in small and manageable doses (guided by the therapist), so as to process (rather than suppress) the difficult feelings with proper support. When we are properly supported, those traumatic memories become less powerful and some clients are able to manage and even form meaningful narratives for themselves, to gain better control of their lives.

For the irrational thoughts and delusions, we could explore these in the session, so the therapist can help the client understand where these may be coming from. Sometimes they could also be influenced by how we are feeling (which relates back to the parts mentioned earlier). However if it is a result of psychosis, the client may also need to get medication from a psychiatrist for that. Art therapy is just one of the therapeutic modalities that could help form a holistic treatment for the individual.

Person-centered, Guided Art-making

In art therapy, we focus on the process and not the product. The client learns how to use art and their own creative resources, in their healing. Being a person-centered therapy, the client has the entire control on their art-making and recovery, how far they want to go in the session.

Art-making enables more use of the right brain, helping nurture feelings of wellbeing and self-esteem, feeling 'good-enough' to simply 'be', rather than having to do ('doing' and 'achieving' are left-brain activities). Art also enables different parts of the brain to be used, and also strengthens the link between the left and right brain, helping to 'integrate' and feel more whole. Going into the creative flow also enables the person to use their imagination and creativity to envision better ways of living and a brighter future. It also possibly enables us to reframe our past traumas, or change the kind of narratives that we are telling ourselves about us.