Currently, art therapy is one of the most popular areas in psychological work. It combines the availability of methods with a fairly deep study of personal emotional experience. Artistic techniques that contribute to immersion in the inner world make art therapy attractive to many.
What is art therapy
Art therapy is a method of psychological work, realized with the help of artistic techniques in order to study the personality problems of a person.
The set of art therapeutic practices is quite wide. This is drawing, and application-collage, dance, work with sand, clay or plasticine, making music, composing and playing fairy tales and stories, creating dolls and playing them, etc. What unites these techniques is that they are all ways of creative expression of a person.
The main advantage of art therapy is its accessibility to anyone. For example, in working with children, this is the main method, along with playing psychotherapy. Art therapy weakens the protective barriers of the psyche: a person may be afraid to express their desires or problems directly, but they will reflect them in a drawing or dance, often without realizing it. Many people like art therapy, because the process of such psychological work itself brings pleasure, positive emotions.
Currently, elements of art therapy can be found in any psychological and psychotherapeutic work, regardless of the theoretical orientation of the psychologist.