Art treatment has been in existence since the 1940s. Two leaders in the area, Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer, employed art therapy as a means to help customers tap into their internal thoughts, emotions, and experiences through creative expression. Therapists utilize patients’ free-form artwork expressions to inspire them to discuss the pictures and start looking to themselves for insight and meaning. Together with talk therapy, it helps individuals deal with powerful feelings, boost self-awareness along with self-worth and lessen tension and stress. Art therapy may involve several creative expressions such as painting, drawing, painting, or sculpting, to list a couple.
Over time, art treatment was utilized chiefly by mental health professionals for patients ranging in age from the very young to the older, war veterans, prisoners, and individuals with diagnosed mental illnesses. From the 20th century, art treatment was a recognized discipline requiring training and certification in both art and therapy. Art therapy has also moved out of mental health centers and other community settings such as shelters, schools, and nursing homes, residential treatment centers, and halfway homes.
In more recent decades, research workers have researched the advantages of art therapy for curing many different physical health issues. Some of their findings reveal art treatment:
- Helped decrease anxiety, reduce symptoms of strain, and enhance the quality of life in prostate cancer patients.
- Improved capacity to take care of pain and other terrifying symptoms in kids with cancer.
- Reduced anxiety and stress in children with allergies.
- Stimulated psychological function in older adults with dementia.
- Indicated a reduction in depression in Parkinson’s patients.
