What is art therapy? The name itself gives us a hint about the essence of this term. Art therapy is nothing more than art treatment. How does it happen? Without droppers and tablets, without massages and potions. This direction uses only paints and brushes, colored dough and paper, clay and plasticine, semolina, sand, fabrics, photographs and many other various materials that, with a competent approach to them, contribute to the healing of the human soul.
Art therapy is a kind of connecting thread between the subconscious and the conscious. Such a kind of bridge between the brain and the soul. Using this technique allows you to solve many problems. After all, most often they are not at a conscious level. They lie much deeper. That is why their elimination verbally or medically is a practically impossible task. But to solve it at the level of art, metaphors and images is quite possible.
Art therapy is a separate and at the same time very promising area of psychotherapy, which arose relatively recently, only at the end of the 20th century. She is at the junction of psychology and art, gaining more and more popularity from year to year.
Creativity Helps to Live
In our difficult time, it is very difficult for a person to avoid psychological problems. Virtually every one of us is under a heavy load of various fears, and often not only increased excitability comes, but also suddenly comes aggression. Not only adults suffer from all this. Similar problems are observed in children. How to correct existing mental "problems"? The most painless way offers us the power of art. A beneficial effect on a person is provided by music, painting and theater. They give us a lot of positive emotions, which allows us to get rid of internal tensions, as well as switch to a positive attitude.
It is even better if a person does not contemplate, but create. This will allow him to express his feelings and release his inner potential. Such activity heals in the literal sense of the word. That is why it was called art therapy.
Creativity or pills?
Who do art therapists work with most often? Yes, with almost everyone. This direction is not limited to age limits and is great for both adults and children. Art therapy has many advantages. Among them:
- Availability. In order to engage in drawing, origami or modeling, you will not need expensive materials, special conditions or lengthy preparation. As for fairy tales, you can tell them almost everywhere - on the way to kindergarten, at home or for a walk.
- The absence of any contraindications. You can apply art therapy to everyone. After all, it is the most effective and harmless way to get rid of negative energy.
- The presence of its own “language", with the help of which it is much easier to express the arisen feelings and feelings. Man, using plastic and visual expression, gets the opportunity not to pick up emotions and expressions. They are transmitted by themselves.
The tasks of art therapy
What is this direction for healing human souls for? Its main specific tasks, which, by the way, art therapy copes with quite successfully, are:
- Diagnostics. Creativity allows you to identify the main problems of man. At the same time, the art therapist becomes clear on what special attention should be paid, and what is really happening in the soul of his patient.
- Correction. The use of art therapy allows you to change a person’s behavior, directing him into a more constructive channel. In this case, the patient is healed of fears and anxieties, phobias and limiting beliefs.
- Development. The use of art therapy in work with children reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the child, and also contributes to their development.
- Satisfying aesthetic needs. The art-therapeutic process involves true creativity. Adults and children begin to create paintings and music, write poems and books. And more often than not, those people who considered themselves completely far from inspiration and creativity show their abilities.
- Psychotherapy. This direction allows the specialist to work with the depths of the subconscious, with severe experiences and psychological trauma.
Forms of art therapy
Art treatment can be:
If the first version of art therapy is used in working with children, then it provides for the “consumption” of artwork by young patients that has already been created by other people. The child in this case reads books, considers pictures, listens to music.
An active form of art therapy involves the creation of their products of creativity, including drawings, sculptures, etc.
In addition, art treatment classes are structured or unstructured. In the first case, the topic of the lesson is set by the psychologist. He also offers material for use. At the end of this creative process, the topic itself is discussed, as well as the manner of performance, etc. In unstructured classes, patients have the right to choose their own tools, material and topic for coverage.
Types of Art Therapy
There are various techniques of art therapy in working with children and older patients. In this case, psychologists are exposed to an almost endless field for activity. Specific techniques are selected by specialists depending on the problems and the age of their clients. For example, art therapy in correctional work with hyper-excitable and anxious children involves giving them assignments for drawing on glass. Next, the resulting image should be transferred to paper. This type of art treatment is called monotype.
Art therapy in corrective work with children with a closed or aggressive nature involves the issuance of a child tasks for folding silhouettes, unwinding a ball of thread. Patients with low self-esteem should tell each other interesting stories.
In working with kids, theatricalization and play elements are often used. After all, all children are great dreamers. That is why such activities are understandable and close to them. The applied creative techniques of art therapy in working with children allow you to create such a comfortable atmosphere that classes will not seem boring to anyone and turn into a real workshop of young talents. All participants in such a process will certainly feel the joy of the possibility of self-expression, while at the same time solving their psychological problems.
There are many types of art therapy in working with children. At the same time, more and more new ones are constantly being developed and put into practice. But the main areas that psychologists most often use in their work are:
- Isotherapy. It is a treatment through art and painting.
- Mandalotherapy. Beneficial effect on a person with the help of a special drawing construction.
- Music therapy. This type of art therapy involves sound treatment. A person can not only listen to a finished piece of music, but also create his own rhythm, as well as play it.
- Sand therapy. In this type of treatment, the potential that is in the sand is used.
- Fairytale therapy. In this case, the psychologist applies metaphors in myths, legends and fairy tales.
- Tissue Therapy Therapeutic work is sometimes carried out with woven materials, from which the patient is invited to create compositions.
- Puppetotherapy. When conducting such therapeutic art therapy in working with children, small patients are invited to make their own toy. Materials in this case can be very diverse.
- Collage. During such classes, treatment is carried out when creating the desired map from pictures cut from magazines.
- Testoplasty This type of art therapy in working with children allows them to undergo a course of treatment thanks to working with any of the plastic materials, including plasticine, dough and clay.
Indications for art therapy
Treatment using the methods described above is based on spontaneous expression. At the same time, it to some extent ignores the aesthetic criteria that are used to evaluate the results of creations and their professionalism. Art therapy in working with children is aimed at the creative process itself, and not at its outcome.
Who is primarily shown such activities? Methods of art therapy in working with children are used if the kids:
- Stubborn.
- Aggressive.
- Suffer from stuttering or ticks.
- They are in constant fears and have obsessive states.
- They are characterized by a frequent change of mood.
- They have delays in mental and speech development.
- Caught in a crisis.
- Apathetic or excitable.
- Change of residence.
- They are preparing to attend kindergarten, school or are in the period of adaptation.
- Are hyperactive.
In addition, the use of art therapy techniques in working with children is necessary in cases where babies have difficulty communicating with their peers or with adults. Similar treatment is also necessary if parents lose control over their child’s behavior due to his disobedience.
Features of art treatment
With the use of various types of art therapy for children, the tasks of this direction are solved quite quickly and effectively.
The fact is that such a technique allows you to:
- create a positive emotional mood in the child;
- directly turn to already existing fantasies or problems that for one reason or another it is difficult for the patient to discuss in a verbal way;
- to give the opportunity to conduct experiments on a symbolic level with a wide variety of feelings, explore them and express them in a form acceptable to society;
- creatively express oneself, develop imagination, gain aesthetic experience, as well as practical skills in visual activity;
- increase the baby’s adaptive abilities for everyday life, reducing fatigue, as well as negative emotional states associated with the learning process;
- effectively correct existing violations and deviations in personal development, relying on internal mechanisms of healing and self-regulation.
Principles of conducting classes
The use of art therapy methods in working with children will be effective only if:
- The child will have a desire to be engaged. This is the main condition for the application of art therapy methods. After all, the creativity of a person who does not have a desire for this is simply impossible. However, the psychologist will not be able to start a confidential dialogue with the child.
- The little patient will receive encouragement and gratitude.
- The teacher will be ready in advance to receive the answer “I don’t know” from the child. Very often, this is how children respond to common questions. In this case, an adult needs to offer his little patient several answers.
- The teacher will be directly involved in the work he offers. At the same time, the adult at the beginning and at the end of the lesson should talk with the child about his mood, draw with him, sculpt, talk about artistic or musical works, that is, perform the tasks that are set for the small patient.
- The material that is used when applying various methods of art therapy in working with children will be solid, beautiful and bright. Pencils and paints, paper and plasticine must always have a neat appearance. Indeed, through the material for work, the child feels an attitude towards himself. For those children who come to classes reluctantly, bright office supplies will become an attractive moment.
- The teacher’s story in the classroom will contain details of the hypnotic narrative. To some extent, adult speech should introduce the child into a light trance. This can be achieved by repeating sentences or words, as well as through the use of metaphors, epithets and changes in voice intonation. This technique allows you to create an atmosphere of mystery, the unusual nature of what is happening, which, in turn, helps to happen a miracle in the form of spontaneous self-disclosure of a small patient.
- Will enjoy the drawing process. After all, even scribbles or scribbles are very important for healing.
Work with children with disabilities
Art therapy in working with small patients with disabilities, involves the development of their cognitive and emotional-volitional sphere. Practical exercises with such a child are designed to solve the problems of socialization and adaptation. Moreover, the methods of art therapy used in working with children with disabilities should take into account the defect structure, psychological deviations of patients, as well as their individual, personality and age characteristics.
The most important treatment technique in this case is a direction that uses active imagination. This allows the psychologist to confront the unconscious and the conscious, and then reconcile them with each other through effective interaction.
Art therapy in working with children with disabilities, using art, is the most natural form of correction of emotional and mental conditions. At the same time, its methods such as isotherapy, psycho-gymnastics, music therapy, animal therapy and fairy tale therapy are used. They allow the psychologist to discover the hidden abilities that the child has, as well as rid him of internal conflicts and various fears. The principles of working with such patients are gentle. Art therapy does not have any negative effect on the psyche of the baby. An adult engages in dialogue with a small patient in a playful way. Gradually, he begins to gain his trust and thus learns everything that worries the child. In the future, the art therapist must decide what should be done in such a situation.
Thanks to work with symbolic material, the child's perceptual systems, as well as associative-shaped thinking, are actively developing up to this point. With the help of art therapy, the child significantly expands his life experience, which gives him self-confidence.
Work with aggressive children
Correctional therapy with such small patients has some features. For example, in its initial stages it is forbidden to use group forms. Indeed, in such cases, negative emotions become inevitable. That is why the most effective is the implementation of individual art therapy in working with aggressive children.
In such cases, conversations with small patients, explaining to them that they need to behave themselves, are absolutely ineffective. The main specificity of such children is that their emotional state is characterized as acute. The problems that exist in their behavior arise from a high level of fear and anxiety, as well as from strong feelings of resentment and guilt. To correct the behavior in such a situation will only allow the removal of the severity of the emotional state of the child. This will be facilitated by a variety of methods of art therapy, but the use of modeling and drawing will be especially effective in this case. The use of sand therapy is also recommended. Demonstrative negativity and aggression after such classes are replaced in the child with creativity and initiative.