Issues in Art Therapy with Children (Counseling)

Issues in Art Therapy with Children

2006

Introduction

Art therapy is the therapeutic use of making art within a professional relationship , and the process involved in making art is healing and life-enhancing . In the early 1980s , the American Art Therapy Association (Levick , 1983 , as cited in Newcomer , 1993 ) regarded art therapy as an opportunity for nonverbal expression and communication with the belief that the creative process of art is a means of reconciling emotional conflicts and of fostering self-awareness . The association later expanded their definition to read

Art Therapy is

a human service profession that utilizes art media images , the creative art process and patient /client responses to the created products as reflections of an individual 's development abilities , personality , interests , concerns and conflicts

Art experiences can provide an alternative to verbal forms of assessment and treatment (American Art Therapy Association Newsletter , 1998

Kaplan (2000 ) reviewed the findings of other neuroscientists who noted that graphic representation is a complex activity , involving areas of the brain associated with language . For example , Restak (1994 ) reported that more brain neurons are devoted to vision than the other senses Kaplan suggests that studio art can facilitate problem-solving abilities , stimulate pleasure and self-esteem , and provide opportunities for successful functioning in children and adults with cognitive impairments . Malchiodi (2003 ) cites studies by scientists who found that drawing involves complex interactions between many parts of the brain and notes that science will be central to understanding how art therapy works and why it is a powerful therapeutic modality

Riley (2003 ) observed that offering opportunities to create art to depressed adolescents as a means of communication that can be enjoyed and controlled provides a lens for viewing their perceptions through their own images , as well as a vehicle for treatment and a way to address resistance . In addition , she finds drawingless confrontational less familiar , and less judgmental than talk , and that adolescent depression is often masked . Teenagers may also be angry or aggressive as opposed to the lassitude characteristic of depressed adults , and art-making can serve to relieve painful self-deprecation . Wadeson (1980 noted that drawings by patients experiencing depression showed less color , less affect , and less effort than the drawings of nondepressed individuals . In addition , they showed more empty space and more depressive affect , such as drawing about harming others

Silver Ellison (1995 ) described the behavior and history of a 16-year-old who had been arrested and incarcerated for stabbing another youth with a pencil . His history included a volatile temper and it was feared that he might harm others . His father had disappeared and his mother had been killed in a gang-related incident . During his stay in the facility , he was placed on suicide watch , and then was disciplined for angry acting-out . Three weeks after his release , he committed suicide

Advantages of Art Therapy vs . Traditional Verbal Therapy for Children

Many studies performed by therapist-researchers have been chosen to focus on art therapy in particular because of the expressive arts benefit of allowing children a nonverbal outlet for...