What is art therapy? Everything you need to know

What do you know about art therapy? Art therapy is a form of treatment that uses art for therapeutic purposes. It has been shown that art can be a good vehicle for healing psychological disorders, treating mental blocks and personal fears, etc.

Although art therapy was initially only used for therapeutic purposes, today many people also use it as a technique to help with personal development, emotional expression and even self-knowledge. Would you like to learn everything you need to know about art therapy? Well keep reading!

The history of art therapy

Before humans even developed verbal language, they were expressing themselves in one form or another through art. If you think about it, humans were already portraying their everyday lives through cave paintings all the way back in prehistoric times, which has helped us to understand their customs many years later. Art helps us to explore ourselves, to show how we see life, what we worry about, what makes us happy, what interests us, etc. And, despite what many think, this tool can be used by anyone, not just artists or those who are “good at it”.

It was in the Classic Antiquity period when the therapeutic properties of art and its benefits were first discovered. People realised that art helped them to achieve the balance they needed in their daily lives and to maintain a healthy body and mind. Interesting, right?

However, it wasn’t until the 19th century that European psychiatrists began to take an interest in plastic art produced by patients diagnosed with various forms of mental disorders, analysing it and discovering that, as a communication tool, it was actually as effective as verbal language. The Viennese psychiatrist, Hans Prinzhorn, then argued that, according to his criteria, all forms of artistic creativity had the potential for the self-healing.

In the 20th century, art therapy eventually established itself as a profession, based around two main schools of thought: psychoanalysis and artistic education. Gestalt therapy is a particularly prominent school of psychology in this field.

How does art therapy work?

Art therapists are professionals who combine both psychology and art to treat their patients. Psychology, on the one hand, provides them with an in-depth understanding of the human mind, and of the behaviour, processes and development of human beings. But it is also important that they have expertise in various artistic disciplines, as they use a number of different techniques and types of art to work with their patients. And sculpture is of course one of the techniques used by these professionals.

Objectives of art therapy

Art therapy uses art as a means of communication. It helps people to express themselves or communicate their feelings through the creation of artwork. There are three main objectives to art therapy:

• Communicating feelings that are very difficult to express.
• Boosting confidence and self-esteem.
• Making verbal expression more achievable.

These three objectives lead to a variety of different benefits, which we will outline next. What do you think they are?

The benefits of art therapy

But what actual benefits can be achieved through art therapy? In addition to helping us to express ourselves and understand ourselves better, art can also help with the following aspects:

• Helping people to communicate when they have problems with communication.
• Encouraging emotional self-awareness and helping to manage behaviour.
• Improving quality of life.
• Helping with rehabilitation and emotional education.
• It is very effective for people who struggle to relate appropriately to their environment.
• It has proved to be very beneficial for children and teenagers with learning difficulties.
• It helps to treat the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• It boosts self-esteem.

The main benefit of using art as a form of therapy is that it is very stimulating and develops your creative side, as well as your capacity for lateral thinking. Art is also very useful for helping you to express feelings that can often cause a lot of frustration.

Art therapy and sculpture

As you know, sculpture is one of the seven arts, so it can also be used to achieve all the benefits we just mentioned. Modelling figures, giving them form, becoming absorbed in creative work, perfecting every little detail...

Various scientific studies have shown that art therapy approaches involving sculpture can significantly improve the quality of life of people affected by disorders as serious as Alzheimer’s disease or senile dementia and can help to slow down the process of cognitive deterioration.

However, as we already mentioned, you do not need to suffer from an illness or a communication disorder in order to enjoy the benefits of art therapy. Art, and therefore art therapy, can help you to achieve a higher level of personal satisfaction, boost your self-esteem, focus your attention, and become surer of who you are.

Did you already know all this about art therapy? Interesting, right? Let us know what you think about this technique and if you have had a go at modelling your own pieces.

We would be delighted to help you find all the tools you need!