Art therapy or therapy through creativity, no matter what you call this process, it will still have at least some impact on us, you just have to immerse yourself in it for a short time. Plunged into the world of flowers and paints, the world of fantasies and creations, you will easily feel the impact of such activities. Laziness will recede, shyness will leave, inability will be replaced by real creativity! There are many methods, and the effect depends only on your choice.
Be it weaving
or painting with paints, 
mandala circle exercises 
or clay 
- there will certainly be an effect!
We create unconsciously, from childhood, while our mind is busy with something, our subconscious expresses itself. For example, during telephone conversation, if you have a piece of paper at hand, your hand seems to start drawing patterns on its own.
They are always different and reflect our hidden emotions, which can sit so quietly and so deeply that we often don’t even suspect them. But they are cramped and uncomfortable there, they want to go to the surface, in this material world and turn into something, taking on some shape and color. Everyone receives certain special impressions from the contemplation of any creativity,
be it an oil painting 
or crafts from scraps, 
figurine or decoration.
The process of removing emotions always involves creative activity. Creation is creativity, participation in the creation of this world, the fulfillment of the great law...
Carry out your ideas, do what your heart desires, regardless of skills and abilities. Even if we didn't go to art schools, even if we last time we drew in the 7th grade - finding your own way of expressing yourself that suits you individually will not be difficult. Currently, there are many types of art from the simplest to the painstakingly refined. Who knows which one you will find yourself in? How will you show your individuality, concentrate, relax, engage your hands, pamper your eyes, please others...
Creative activity is very useful for us, because it helps to transform our experiences from the emotional plane to the material one, where they can be felt and corrected as we would like it, the way we truly need it. Yes, a person, through his mind, is able to change his mood, and the process that helps us in this is Art Therapy.
We express our experiences, hidden or obvious, in our creations, and after appreciating the resulting miracle, it becomes easier for us to understand our thoughts, desires, aspirations, set specific goals, or simply free ourselves from everyday life and relax our souls in the process of creating miracles. Even if our emotions for some reason are not the most favorable, we will try to recognize them, discern them, see and understand them. After this, clarity comes to us, and we move to the next stage of processing emotions. In this we are helped by various art therapeutic methods, available to every person who wants to move towards goals, eliminating obstacles, boldly learning new things, getting rid of fears of the unknown...
The world is cyclical, everything in it moves, the Universe does not wait, everything in it spins and breathes. On inhalation, the primary process of collecting information from the outside, processing and analysis, response “from me”. As you exhale, the energy that was processed and once taken from outside is dissipated and it splashes out “out of me.” This is truly a Universal process that everyone can feel.
Modern man lives thousands of emotions every day. We are always in a hurry somewhere, we do something for someone, we plan something, we forget something, someone commands us or we lead someone. All these relationships affect us and stay with us. 
The fact is that we have certain filters inside us, like on faucets at home, their task is not to allow large heavy particles to pass through, so that the water we use every day remains clean and transparent. Here's another analogy. This water can be compared to our state of mind, and the unfiltered mass can be compared to the main flow of all the information surrounding us. We live in an age of rapidly developing technologies, in an information age. Of course, everything has its own service life, everything must be replaced and cleaned. These large pieces(heavy emotions) are delayed, and when there are a lot of them, the system gives a signal that it is time to change the filters. This affects everyone differently. Being so overloaded often makes things feel foggy. We find it difficult to embrace concentration or focus properly on a task. In such a state, it is difficult to remain captains of the ship, and sooner or later we begin to go with the flow, and accordingly, we are carried into a variety of harbors - uncontrollable situations. Whether they are pleasant or unpleasant is the second question; it seems to follow from the fact of loss of awareness and being here and now.
The human mind is always busy, just like the mind, it is filled with reflections, conclusions, conclusions, and logical chains. But neither the mind nor our intelligence usually controls the body's functioning systems, such as our breathing, heartbeat, body needs and reflexes. These systems are configured and work perfectly without our participation. It turns out that we are here to participate with our minds and intellect in some more global affairs, to create, to help ourselves and those around us, to create and create new things, to make our discoveries in this world. Any inventor believed in the possibility of the existence of his idea, and, perhaps, without this aspect of faith in himself and his idea, something else would have turned out, and not those necessary things that we use every day... 
Everyone has their own important matters and tasks facing them. Each person has an individual path in accumulating unique personal experience. There is always a lot to do, they flow one after another and sometimes we forget what my “I” really wants, what it needs now, what it needs now. Her Majesty the Universe, in all its power and perfection, is manifested before us, and we, as an integral part of it, also manifest ourselves in it, leaving our mark. It turns out that we flow out of the Universe and at the same time flow into it. A continuous cycle of interaction with what we are close to. We are individual and one with all of creation at the same time. Creativity is in us. This is inherent in nature itself.
We can begin the process of creativity and it will flow by itself, but once we start managing it, turning on some meaningfulness, we take the path of harmonization and unity. We are the masters of our path, Nature controls the rest. 
This path, or rather just one of many paths to harmony, is art therapy, which will help:
- provide experience of successful activities
- reveal our hidden potential (talents, skills, abilities)
- awaken vivid emotions
- come closer to goals, dreams, desires
- feel confident, feel relaxed
- overcome rejection
- smooth out and neutralize manifestations of anger, laziness, fear
- polish what is excessively prominent (character traits, habits)
- recover from illnesses of the soul (envy, alienation, resentment)
- relieves depression (despondency, apathy, reluctance to live)
- soothe your aching heart and get rid of suffering
- synchronize with the harmonious creation of this world and direct the impulses of the soul to the creation of this world
Art therapy is always an experience of successful activity, since the creation of any creative product in itself brings a feeling of satisfaction.
Group therapy as a private method of work, regardless of age, provides a person with a sense of contact with other people. 
The feeling of “being understood” is one of the most powerful in the art therapy process, just as the phrase “I understand” resonates through all great works of art.
Art therapy also has feedback in its process.
Artistic images in painting, music, or other art evoke strong emotions, such as love, empathy, hatred, compassion, inspiration. Those who come to the course need to relax and concentrate on themselves or on the exciting moment. 
It is important to trust an art therapist, teacher or presenter, who will certainly help everyone discover their desire to reproduce these feelings, understand and accept them.
Creativity (the state of creativity) is a means personal growth, self-understanding and recovery. Everyone can enter such a state at will, or in an appropriate atmosphere conducive to it.
Undoubtedly, social progress, the development of civilization, great works of art are associated precisely with the manifestation of high creativity. Creative process used every day when we need to solve a problem, create something beautiful around us or make life special.
Creativity is often defined and affects a person as:
- the ability to bring something new and unique into existence
- connecting together opposing impressions, ideas and concepts that at the beginning seem unrealistic
- a certain impetus to the inclusion of such personality qualities as spontaneity, imagination, originality of self-expression, openness to new things, intuition
- overthrowing barriers, breaking down boundaries and rejecting generally accepted rules where necessary for the process
- removing boundaries and boundaries in thinking and attitude towards the world
Creative people are distinguished by their independence, autonomy, self-confidence, emotionality, sensitivity, self-acceptance, adventurism and excitement.
A person involved in the creative process allows all his old beliefs and ideas to go away. In this sense, creativity is closely related to the personality trait of courage. In artistic creativity, the courage to create something new and unique can ultimately be accompanied by a feeling of satisfaction, which makes this activity meaningful and necessary.
Both art therapy and the creative process are about problem solving—finding new solutions to habitual ways of being, thinking, feeling, and interacting. Both processes involve meeting yourself. In art therapy, this encounter occurs through art materials and the experience itself. artistic creativity, state and atmosphere of creativity.
IN last decades creativity has come to be defined as human potential, as an ability that we can develop in ourselves if we want to. 
Everything around, all the diversity of the world, is nothing more than artistic elements ordered in a certain way, combined and transformed. How we see and perceive them depends on our consciousness. Some people like something light and elegant, others are attracted to something flashy and flashy. The language of artistic images is a special, universal language, containing universal human concepts in symbolic form.
Everyone has had to create something in their life, be it decorating a dish, choosing wallpaper and furniture, decorating a gift for loved ones, or doing a craft with a child. Understanding the high universality of Art Therapy, everyone can turn to its methods and launch within themselves the Universal mechanism of self-healing and harmonization through the creative process. 
Everything is creativity. Creation around us...
It is based on two ideas.
The first is that a person suffering from a psychopathological disorder can recognize and understand the peculiarities of his character, his disorders, and mood.
The second idea, which follows from the first, is that, having recognized the strong and weak sides character, the patient can creatively mitigate his condition, since any creativity releases a large number of positive energy, any creativity is healing. The latter does not contradict Freud’s position on sublimation, according to which people of art and science elevate (sublimate) their illness into creativity.
However, the cardinal difference between Burno’s method and Western psychotherapy is that therapy with creative self-expression, developing the clinical approaches of Ernst Kretschmer and P. B. Gannushkin, is based on the position: every character is inherent in a person innately, and therefore it is useless and pointless to try to change it, with it fight.
Therapy according to the Burno method is built taking into account the characteristics of each character, and not from the existential unity of the human personality.
In order for a person suffering from, say, chronic depression to understand the peculiarities of his depression, his character, during group classes in the “psychotherapeutic living room” he first listens to the stories of his comrades about artists, writers, composers, philosophers, trying to gradually penetrate into the fundamentals of characterological typology, to distinguish one character from another, to try on each of the characters passing by him in a series of activities.
Most often, artists become the object of analysis, because verbal knowledge about them can be easily supported by live reproduction, thereby creating a stereoscopic image of a character.
Creative self-expression therapy sessions take place in a relaxed atmosphere, by candlelight, with a cup of tea, accompanied by relaxing classical music. Gradually, patients become closer, often becoming friends who are able to support each other morally.
As a methodological background, at the beginning of the lesson, two opposing paintings are often shown, for example, the synthonic “Moscow Courtyard” by Polenov and the autistic, full of symbols extending into infinity, painting masterpiece by N.K. Roerich. The opposition between the realistic, syntonic and autistic principles is present in every lesson.
Against this background, patients see synthonic Mozart and Pushkin, autistic Beethoven and Shostakovich, epileptoids Rodin and Ernst Neizvestny, psychasthenics Claude Monet and Chekhov, polyphonic mosaic characters - Goya, Dali, Rozanov, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov.
At the heart of each lesson is a question, a riddle, so each patient’s arrival in the “psychotherapeutic living room” is already filled with creativity: you need to determine the difficult character of this or that person, understand which character is closer to yourself. The root of the problem is not necessarily special person, it may be an abstract problem - a crowd, fear, anti-Semitism, depersonalization - all this is considered from a characterological point of view.
The patient thinks about the fact that creativity healed a great man, helped him in his difficult life, and if therapy with creative self-expression is indicated for the patient, he can, of his own free will, begin to live creative life, which manifests itself in a wide variety of different forms ah - in correspondence with the doctor, in inventing stories, creating paintings, taking photographs, even collecting stamps.
When a person understands his own character, it is easier for him to understand the characters of those around him, he knows what can be expected or demanded from this or that person, and what cannot be. He joins social life, and the painful kinks of his own soul gradually soften, until he persistently resists the disease.
Therapy according to the Burno method has a philosophical and humanitarian-cultural bias. It not only promotes personal health, but also makes people more educated and moral.
1. About the essence of therapeutic creativity.
Creativity is “an activity that generates something qualitatively new and distinguished by uniqueness, originality and socio-historical uniqueness.” Creativity expresses the personal: only the personal can be so unique and original that it always represents something qualitatively new. In creativity (in the broadest sense of the word), a person feels truly himself in the name of moral ties with people. The special, high joy of meeting oneself in creativity is inspiration. Creativity reveals and strengthens the identity of the creator, paving the way for him to reach people.
He is actively involved in the treatment of adult psychopaths (psychasthenics, asthenics, cycloids, schizoids, epileptoids) and low-progressive schizophrenic patients who themselves seek help from doctors regarding their mental difficulties and are opposite to antisocial-aggressive psychopathic natures in their defensiveness.
Defensiveness is passive defensiveness, a tendency to defend in general, “inhibition.” All defensive patients carry within themselves an asthenic conflict of feelings of inferiority with vulnerable pride, timidity, self-doubt, fearful-inert indecisiveness, pathological shyness, anxious suspiciousness, everyday impracticality, a feeling of uselessness and uselessness.
The problem of treating defensive psychopathies is very relevant, since this kind of pathology is currently widespread both among the adult population and among adolescents and young men, and there are no sufficiently developed effective methods treatment.
The importance of deep contact with people for a defensive patient cannot be overestimated. But creative deepening into oneself in itself acts here, as a rule, therapeutically, displacing the feeling of uncertainty, “jellyfish,” helplessness that maintains painful tension. The most painful thing for many clinical patients is a feeling of uncertainty in mental tension, when you don’t know what you want, what to fear, what to love. When does a defensive patient, who finds himself in creativity, realize himself among loved ones, comrades, strangers, in his people, in humanity as a non-random, creative personality, he is imbued with spiritual light, he is no longer able to suffer as acutely as before. Therefore, in a creative work created by a patient, we should be interested not so much in whether it is a true work of art or science, but in how the patient was able to express his individuality in this work and how it helped him therapeutically.
2. General characteristics of the method.
Patients in an atmosphere of spiritual, human care for them by a doctor and a nurse, in individual conversations with a therapist, in group classes in the liberating “non-medical” comfort of a psychotherapy room (tea, slides, music, candles, etc.), in homework over the course of 2-5 years, they learn to understand themselves and others, to express themselves creatively in accordance with their clinical characteristics. Specific methods of creativity therapy, which form the meaningful core of the technique, are intertwined, dissolved in each other in this method on the basis of explanatory and educational moral and creative knowledge of oneself and others, up to the study of well-known characterological radicals, pathological disorders, properties (painful doubts, anxieties, uncertainty , reflection, depersonalization, hypochondria, depression, etc.), which it is also often possible to learn to apply in life therapeutically and creatively and for the benefit of people.
3. Certain methods of creativity therapy are therapy:
1) creation of creative works,
2) creative communication with nature,
3) creative communication with literature, art, science,
4) creative collecting.
5) creative immersion in the past,
6) keeping a diary and notebooks,
7) home correspondence with a doctor,
8) creative travels,
9) a creative search for spirituality in the everyday.
Its essence is in its own way, with its introduction into any business (official communication with people and home cooking salad) your own, individual. It is this individual that is the true spiritual path to other people. The term “creative” is appropriate in the name of each individual indicated technique also because it is important for the patient to constantly be aware of his originality, for example, both in an art gallery and when reading fiction, and in relation to everything that he encounters on his journey. Patients must be clearly aware of what is happening to them during this treatment.
Knowledge of other mental disorders and other human characters;
Continuation of knowledge of oneself and others in creative self-expression with awareness of one’s social benefit, with the emergence on this basis of a lasting bright worldview.
The essence of therapy with creative self-expression is the patient’s conscious, purposeful identification in the process of therapy of his individuality, his place among people, in personal, creative self-affirmation.
The patient writes a story or draws a picture not only and not so much in order to get carried away by the process of writing itself, but in order to develop and enrich creative individuality, in order to live and act in a constant search for its most socially useful meaning in life.
From here follow the goals and objectives of such therapy.
1. Cause lasting, irreversible improvement in defensive patients, helping them become “themselves,” helping them find their meaning in life;
2. Open, activate, liberate the hidden reserves of patients, which will help them adapt much better to social and moral activities;
3. To help defensive patients, on the basis of strengthened creative individuality, firmly and productively enter teams - work, educational, household, etc.
5. Individual and group forms of work using the Burno method.
IN practical application Therapy with creative self-expression Burno identifies two acceptable forms of work - individual meetings and work with open groups in an outpatient clinic. The individual form allows the doctor to enter the patient’s world, learn about his intimate experiences, and clarify with him the question of his well-being and mood.
The group form allows the patient to clearly see himself, his character, his spiritual values, his creativity in comparison with all this from his group mates. The patient can be convinced of the sincerity of interest and respect for him on the part of his comrades, understand and accept other ways of experiencing and behavior, which in itself is therapeutically valuable.
6. A little about therapy by creating creative works of art.
While engaged in group therapy with inpatients and outpatients, Burno most often used the following specific types of creative therapy - writing stories and essays, creative photography, graphics and painting. As he points out, this is the minimum that a doctor must master in terms of his own creativity. encouraging patients to do healing work. It is important to remember that the doctor does not set out to become a writer, photographer or painter. He just has to learn to reveal his spiritual individuality to his patients and give them an example of communication through creativity. The less skill a doctor has in his creativity, the easier it is, apparently, for him to instill in his patients the courage to take the first step. Of course, a doctor is required to have a clinical and therapeutic understanding of all types of creativity for differentiated therapy of patients with different personal inclinations and abilities, that is, a doctor involved in creativity therapy must first of all be a good clinician. Thus, schizophrenics are closer to abstract painting, symbolism in prose and deep empathy for music. And psychasthenics with their “withered” sensuality and innate thoroughness clearer language realism. For them it is necessary to discover the immediate joy of being, bright colors and sounds of life. For defensive patients who are unsure of themselves and their abilities, it is often important to emphasize freedom, the absence of boundaries, in order to stimulate the creative process.
Therapy with graphics and painting is possible without the help of lessons from a specialist artist, because its goal is not to create true works of art, but to strive to find out and emphasize one’s individuality with the help of a brush, pencil, felt-tip pen and paints.
Vigorously identifies the following mechanisms of therapy with graphics and painting:
Drawing can be as accessible to the patient anywhere as writing in a book, and it often brings the same instant symptomatic alleviation of mental tension as keeping a diary;
The patient, who is constantly drawing, involuntarily, out of habit, already takes a closer look at the colors and lines around him, and thus constantly healingly clarifies his spiritual individuality and “gets attached” to the environment;
Writing with paints, mixing paints, drawing with fingers and palms on a large sheet of paper sharpens, “ignites” the faded sensuality of defensive patients and contributes to an even greater “attachment” of them to life;
A therapeutic-creative drawing in a group on a given topic, for example, “My childhood home,” makes it possible to immediately, after a few minutes of drawing, see each member of the group in the drawings displayed together and more clearly see oneself through comparison with others.
Doctor and nurse First of all, they themselves must show in the group how easy it is to draw your own. This requires only an inspired desire to convey your experience, without thinking about how to do it. The meaning and refrain in this case is that we draw (write, photograph) in order to better see the world and ourselves in it. Burno recommends doing all this with a condescendingly warm attitude towards the ineptitude of the draftsmen, briefly but seriously supporting timid patients drowned out by bashful cowardice (“Where am I supposed to be!”, “I have no imagination,” etc.)
Topics for drawings and paintings, as well as topics for stories and essays, can be very diverse. The main thing is to express yourself. This could be “Landscapes of my childhood”, “A flower that I like”, “An animal that I like”, “That which is unpleasant for me”, etc.
It is advisable to look at albums on ancient Greek, ancient Egyptian, and ancient Roman art in a group, so that patients can find out what is more consonant with them, where each of them is closer in their own characterological manner of drawing.
It is often necessary to help patients get out of the formalistic “cages” into which they have previously locked their spiritual individuality. For example, defensive ones, in contrast to morally empty psychopaths and emasculated mannered schizophrenics, are filled with the experience of inferiority, moral concerns, they have something to say to people warmly, from the heart. However, fearing injury, some of them retreat into spontaneous creativity into the aesthetically cold formalism of the image, copying other people’s paintings, and these mask fences not so much hide their torment from people, but rather aggravate mental tension and make it difficult to communicate with people. In such cases, you need to help the patient work in his own way, sincerely, more simply. more spiritually, talking specifically about their own innermost experiences.
Sometimes the patient needs to be “led” into drawing or writing out of his special, living interests. So, for example, a patient, overwhelmed by ancient historical reflections, begins to draw mammoths among primeval nature.
Often, reading literature about types and genres helps one to reach for graphics or painting. visual arts, about execution techniques and materials. That incurious, absent-minded, defensive patient, having learned that the paintings that are spiritually close to him were painted in pastels, having seen pastel crayons in the group for the first time, tries to draw with them and gets carried away.
Psychasthenics without an ear for music or interest in music are advised to combine listening to music with drawing pictures, with viewing artistic slides that are in tune with a given piece of music. After all, it is common for a psychasthenic to concretely imagine what is happening there, “in music.” The creative images that arise are not just interesting - they are healing. Reading memoirs about composers also helps to understand music and feel into it.
Defensive schizoids often perceive music without any ideas - this is how the soul itself sounds. For a schizoid, on the contrary, parallel classes will interfere with listening to music, distract and even irritate him.
Based own experience, Burno proposes the following taxonomy of musical consonance depending on the clinical groups of patients:
Defensive cycloids are usually consonant with Mozart, Glinka, Rossini, Strauss, Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert, Kalman, Ravel, Stravinsky.
For defensive schizoids - Handel, Bach, Gluck, Haydn, Beethoven, Paganini, Liszt, Grieg, Chopin, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Shostakovich.
For psychasthenics - Vivaldi, Glinka, Saint-Saens.
For defensive epileptoids - Mussorgsky, Borodin, gypsy romances.
Patients who are more inclined towards music are usually also more inclined towards poetry. However, Burno advises from time to time in any treatment group to listen to music while simultaneously reading aloud poems specially selected to match the melodies, thus trying to enhance the healing musical experience with poetry.
7. On indications and contraindications for creative expression therapy.
This therapeutic technique is indicated for a wide range of defensive patients.
An absolute contraindication is deep psychotic depression with suicidal motives. The presence of such patients in a group of creatively self-expressing people can aggravate the feeling of depressive hopelessness, exclusion from life and push them to suicide (including through thoughtful preparation for leaving life with the help of diary entries).
Defensive low-progressive schizophrenic cases are also considered a contraindication, when patients persistently report that they become more and more “fragile” and vulnerable during the treatment process, the treatment awakens joyful hopes - and the “blows of life” only hurt more from all this. It’s so bad at home, so gray, cold and indifferent. “It would be better not to know this contrast!”
A contraindication (relative) is the delusional and overvalued mood of patients with a tendency to delusional interpretation of the doctrine of character typology to the detriment of the patient and the people around him. As well as various psychopathological conditions that are opposite in content to defensiveness: hysterical and epileptoid psychopathy with aggressive tendencies without any sense of inferiority.
Burno advises using certain aspects of creative self-expression therapy in the work of a local psychiatrist and any general practitioner.
Therapy with creative self-expression also has its own psychohygienic forms in healthy everyday life. This is quite relevant given the modern respect for all creativity, with the current prevalence of subclinical, including defensive, disorders, and with the need for mass creative enthusiasm to prevent various mental disorders, alcoholism, drug addiction, and substance abuse of the younger generation.
From creative self-expression therapy using the Burno method, much can be learned for psychology and pedagogy with significant benefits for society as a whole.
Thus, we have examined one of the modern directions of the domestic psychotherapeutic school, based on a deep analysis of therapeutic and correctional mechanisms that manifest themselves in the course of visual and other creative work, as well as during the discussion of created works in a group or with a therapist. We saw that by connecting intellectual and creative operations, psychotherapeutic contact and the doctor’s access to the patient’s psychopathological experiences are facilitated, which in turn helps the patient’s associative and communicative adaptation, his greatest involvement in the life process, understanding and acceptance of himself and others, and, therefore, the entire healing process as a whole.
Many of us have heard about, but it is not always possible to achieve a full understanding of this concept, what it means, and even more so - the opportunities that appear depending on our goals. In fact, the potential of art therapy can help a person to reveal what was hidden deep inside, beyond the boundaries of his own understanding, to become a new way of self-knowledge, as well as the search for answers to long-troubling questions.
Helped me understand the topic of modern art therapy Elena Voznesenskaya– Candidate of Psychological Sciences, President of the All-Ukrainian public organization"Art Therapy Association".
What is modern art therapy?
Initially, art therapy arose at the intersection of art, psychology and medicine, and therefore its development proceeds depending on the development of these spheres of human activity. We can say that art therapy is constantly evolving, and in its development follows the development of art. So, for example, postmodernism entered art therapy with new approaches to both therapy and art - installations, performances, land art... Art therapy is not a phenomenon, it is a serious psychotherapeutic approach, which, despite the apparent simplicity of application, is very deep and gives a powerful psychotherapeutic effect.
But the core “concept”—healing through creative expression—has remained the same. Art therapy is a type of psychotherapy and psychological assistance, based on art and creativity. As we see, keyword here “art” is art. When we define art therapy, we use the term “healing.” Art therapy is a way of healing through art. “Healing”, in our understanding, is the achievement of integrity - first of all, mental. It is associated with spiritual integrity, harmony of spirit and body. Art is psychotherapeutic in nature and essence. And the art therapist purposefully uses the arts and creative activities to accompany the client during a period of crisis.
What opportunities does art therapy offer, what is it capable of?
Art therapy has no restrictions on its use. In art therapy it is possible to use any psychological theories and models. Not only words, but also artistic images, body movements, and musical sounds become the language of communication.
Art therapy can be used to work with any problem - with traumatic experiences, with what is impossible to talk about, with psychosomatic diseases, with interethnic conflicts, examples can be given for a very long time. Art therapy works with children who cannot yet express their feelings and emotions in words, with older people, improving their quality of life and emotional state, with victims who are in a state of shock. In any case, there will be an improvement in the condition, expansion of opportunities, development of self-regulation, etc.
Art therapy cannot do harm, although an art therapist can do harm if he does not deeply understand the specifics of using creative tasks and materials, and does not realize the impact of creativity.
The essence and benefits of the most common art therapy methods
In art therapy there are as many methods as there are types of art: art therapy (in in the narrow sense- the use of visual creativity), music therapy, drama therapy, dance-movement therapy, bibliotherapy (the use of literary creativity - writing fairy tales, essays, haiku and other genres of poetry) ... There cannot be a method, for example, mandala therapy, since harmonization of the state with the help of creating mandalas, but requires a broader context of awareness of oneself, one’s feelings, needs, aspirations, interaction with the world, the formation of relationship building skills, personal development and psychological maturity. The creation of mandalas (the so-called “mandala therapy”) is, in our opinion, only one of the methods of art therapy in the narrow sense of the word - healing through the creation of artistic images.
Fine art
Restoring strength with
Music, as we know, affects our inner state. But it can influence not only emotions, but also the human body. A active music therapy – a person himself participates in creating music (mainly with simple instruments available to amateurs). This type of therapy is most often used in groups, where each person plays their own instrument, and the goal is to establish relationships between people.
Dance – integration of body and emotions
Dance helps to release from the body emotions (both positive and negative) that a person did not give outlet to. Everyday life. Remaining unexpressed, they affect the functioning of the body: they create clamps and muscle blocks. Dance movement therapy helps both prevent the formation of blocks and break them down. In the process, a person may feel that not only his emotional condition(for example, the level of stress decreases), but also physically - there is more freedom in movements, nothing constrains them anymore. The body and emotions come into balance.
But group classes with a dance coach are not suitable for this purpose - as in all other types of art therapy, therapy should be accompanied by freedom, and only the current internal state of a person can guide movements. Therefore, more spontaneity!
Unlocking playful and emotional potential – dramatherapy
Play therapy combines the capabilities of techniques for developing imagination (for example, writing) and motor ones, since the body is also involved. With its help, you can play out a disturbing situation and realize what is happening at the deeper levels of the unconscious. With drama therapy, full involvement in what is happening helps develop concentration; skills of ingenuity, determination, and memory are improved; answers to pressing questions appear, the opportunity arises .
Literary creativity and writing
Just like drama therapy, literature therapy can help you live through alternative scenarios from the past in order to get rid of or alleviate it. Or use your imagination for possible future events.
Many well-known practices for unleashing creative abilities are bibliotherapy in its active form, for example, the “morning pages” technique. It is necessary to completely turn off the voice of the “inner critic” and write only what comes to mind, asking a question first if necessary. Analysis of what has been written, if the goal is to generate new ideas, occurs after the writing is completed.
It is often impossible to classify a particular technology as a specific type or form of art therapy. In the psychotherapeutic space, a multimodal approach is usually practiced - the use of several types of arts, consistent work in several creative modalities. When a group creates a map that reflects the locations of the events of a just written fairy tale, after which it is dramatized, what type of activity should this activity be classified as: drama therapy, art therapy itself, or fairytale therapy? after all, the basis for everything was a composed fairy tale. Is drawing movement or dancing a drawn character art or dance movement therapy? Combining different forms of creativity therapy makes it possible to maximally mobilize the creative potential of clients and find those ways of creative self-expression that best meet their capabilities and needs, and provide everyone with additional opportunities to express their feelings and thoughts.
Are there universal methods of art therapy?
Art therapy as a method of healing through creative self-expression can be useful for all clients, with any problems. The art therapist chooses (or creates) a specific technique or uses some technique for a specific client, taking into account his request, life situation. Without an art therapist, there will be no art therapy. Probably the only thing that can be used for self-healing is the creation of mandalas. Drawing mandalas will harmonize the emotional state, but will not be art therapy without a professional art therapist.
Can a person independently determine the goals and methods of working through art therapy?
A person comes to psychotherapy with a request, i.e. for a specific purpose. Or he defines this goal together with the therapist (art therapist) at the first meetings. But you cannot determine the direction and methodology without being a specialist yourself. You can use the “trial” method - some method may not be suitable. But it is unlikely that a person can determine this himself.
For example, such a common problem as lack of inspiration may be a consequence of emotional burnout, the result of a traumatic experience, or due to the characteristics of development and upbringing. An art therapist does not work with a symptom (and not only), an art therapist works with a person.
To use art therapy in psychological practice, special training is required. Art therapy is only superficially easy to use; it only seems that you can give the client a topic to draw and praise him at the end. The training of an art therapist lasts more than one year. He must have knowledge both from the field of psychology and from creative specialties, must be creatively developed and personally mature.
He must understand how this or that material affects the client’s psyche, why in one case it is necessary to give watercolors, and in another - plasticine, in one case - to offer to compose a fairy tale, and in another - to “dance” one’s state.
Art therapy in your own personal mode – where to start?
You can start getting acquainted with art therapy by meeting an art therapist. It is he who will select the necessary methods and techniques for such an acquaintance. Art therapy is not about crafts or “just drawing.” Art therapy is a psychotherapeutic method.
To improve emotional well-being, develop creativity, increase energy, and expand the horizons of personal development, any type of creativity and more are suitable. For some, nature is important, for others it is sports, for others it is painting, for others it is communication with friends. Every person finds something to do that makes him happy and gives him a resource.
I sometimes offer clients to lead "diary of pleasures" and write down every day what made you happy, what gave you pleasure:the aroma of coffee in the morning, beautiful sunset, an unexpected meeting, a bubble bath... To each his own.
The most important
- Art is psychotherapeutic in nature. Healing is associated with spiritual integrity, harmony of spirit and body. Creativity in any form can help in living and expressing your inner world.
- Art therapy can be helpful for people with any type of problem. Art practices, in addition to helping to solve existing problems, provide an opportunity to know oneself better. First, the problem to be dealt with is stated, and then one or more methods are determined, since there is no universal method.
- Art therapy can't hurt.« A contraindication to engaging in certain art therapeutic practices may be belonging to a creative profession. For example, an artist will strive to create an aesthetically pleasing product rather than express the content of his internal conflict. Only this is a conditional contraindication - you can sing or dance with an artist, and with a choreographer you can write fairy tales.
The advantage of a method of soul healing that is based on drawing, dance, theater, music or movement is that the patient is given the opportunity to express himself without words. And since what happens in fantasies is closely connected, as a rule, with events real life child, we have the opportunity to see the world through his eyes.
Ten-year-old Olya and I approach toys,” says Natalya Kobkina, a specialist in drama therapy for children and adolescents. - I ask the girl to look at the toys and choose one. Olya chooses a white hare. I would like to give the hare a name. Olya chooses the name Minnie. I ask the girl how Minnie is doing, and I get the answer:
- I’m a hare, so I have to run. Sorry...
- I’ll hide in the rocks, I’m scared! - at the same time she hides Minnie behind her back.
- What are you afraid of?
- Noise. And forest animals,” she answers. - I want to climb into big rocks and hide there. I don't want to be found.
- Why? - I ask.
- They'll tear me apart. Big animals will eat me because I am a small bunny, and tigers and elephants can trample me.
Olya needs treatment due to communication problems and isolation. With Minnie's help, we were able to talk about the feelings of a girl who is disliked in class.
She had no friends, she refused to accept it, but she closed herself off.
Treatment with creativity
This is the general name for a whole complex of influences various types art, whose goal is to strengthen healthy manifestations in a person, to support the process of changing for the better his soul and body. Treatment with creativity is based on revealing oneself in drawing, drama, literature, music, theater - for big and small, healthy and not, everyone.
With the help of fantasy, the patient not only has fun, but also reveals the secret motives of his behavior. Events in a fictional world are usually related to real events, which allows you to penetrate into what the child is hiding, to see the world through his eyes.
“Creativity gives freedom of expression, allows you to break away from reality and fly on the wings of fantasy,” says Natalya. “In therapy, the act of creation itself is important, and not its fruits. At first, there is no connection at all with talent or creative abilities. They are present in all of us, and especially in children. But unlike adults, children are not constrained by the desire for an excellent result and can act completely freely."
It is important that the child engage in the type of creativity that he likes, and not the one that suits him according to his parents. Children who have behavioral or communication problems, suffer from stress, are hyperactive, have problems with learning, or are withdrawn are referred to therapy. The creative process allows the use of those symbols that are associated with human self-defense, like the free associations used in conventional psychoanalysis, like the defense that we feel in a dream.
During the game, a child can separate himself from the problem that worries him, transfer it to another - a doll, a drawn image, or the one whose role he plays. The game reveals important situations from the child’s life, he opens his feelings without fear. His feelings, desires, needs are transferred to a fictional image. This way the child can see himself from the outside, see the problem and get rid of it.
Dramatherapy - split personality
The origins of the drama lie in Ancient Greece, the meaning of the word is action, occupation. Dramatic action in therapy uses any means of expression - gaze, facial features, body movements, pantomime, role-playing, puppet theater, carnival of masks...
Our actor manifests himself in two images at once, which he plays and as his own prototype. In the game, the child relives his day, combining reality and fantasy. With the help of fantasy, he seems to take a break from reality, sees it from the outside. He leaves his usual self for a while, he creates himself, a stranger appears with different thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
According to Natalya Kobkina, drama therapy is especially suitable for children, because in childhood play brings so much pleasure. Many adults think role-playing games pampering, especially those who carefully suppress any manifestation of childishness in themselves. They perceive the game as a threat. Children enjoy the game, easily change roles, costumes, and tinker with dolls. And with the help of drama therapy, liberation occurs, problems are solved, and the child learns to manage himself, comprehends the art of living among others, communicating, working in a team and coping with any situation.
Movement therapy - relaxation and release
The therapy room in motion is a large and cozy room, with mats thrown on the floor so that children can jump and fall as much as they want, toys everywhere that can be kicked and thrown, and rings, balls, and other equipment hanging from the walls and ceiling. This therapy is based on the assumption that there is a close connection between the soul and body.
“Movement becomes direct communication,” says Alexey Yagodny, a specialist in treating children with the help of body movements. “With the help of the body, you can trace the mental mood and conduct a silent healing process. Therapy in movement is suitable for everyone, because we are talking about those primary skills that one has. each. For those children who cannot express themselves through words, this method is best suited. Sometimes the origins of the problem lie in the period when the baby has not yet spoken. With the help of movements, we return to that time and find ways to healing. And since movement is often associated with music and rhythm, we sometimes use musical instruments: drums for fast dances, rattles and serious instruments for long compositions."
Alexey says that much attention is paid to interaction with environment. This requires the help of parents who participate in classes and undergo appropriate instruction.
This therapy is suitable for both autistic children and children with other communication problems.
“Sometimes a child is unable to express his feelings in words,” says Alexey, “because he considers them forbidden or threatening to others. In the process of treatment, he expresses himself in movement - and receives release. Here the child is allowed any physical manifestation, and he knows that those around him will support him. Here a connection arises without words, bringing children closer to full communication, giving a feeling of understanding."
Healing with music - experience of physical contact
Alla Silaeva, a specialist in the field of music treatment for autistic children, says: “Music does not require words, this is its advantage. And it is suitable for everyone. Many people, especially children, find it difficult to participate in treatment based on conversation. Music allows you to express your feelings ", desires, sensations without the threat heard in words. This path is suitable for those special patients who find it easier to do without words."
The therapy relies on the components of music - melody, singing, rhythm - by using known melodies. The music changes according to the patient's feelings.
“My goal is to accompany the child constantly, accept him as he is, and help him understand himself. I knock on the door that he opens. Together with some we compose melodies, others like to sing, and some dance. Aggressive children relieve aggression by playing music, beating the drum, making noise, getting rid of excess energy. Sometimes someone lays out drumsticks in silence for six months and suddenly explodes in a sea of sounds. And I wait patiently, because everyone has their own tempo.
When working with autistic people, it is important to give them an idea of their body and their self. When a child’s body responds (naturally!) to the sounds of music, he feels every organ - legs, arms, tummy. This is how he becomes aware of his body - through music, and not through rough touches,” says Alla.
Music and movement are closely related, so music therapy is combined with movement therapy. Music is the only art form that makes us dance, connecting body and soul together. Thus, music treatment is useful for those who lose connection with their body and do not love it.
It has been discovered that rhythm is perceived by the human body better than music itself. Breathing, walking, heartbeat and sex - they all follow a certain rhythm.
Lla says that one of the most important procedures for autistic children is related to rhythmic musical instruments, organizing and directing the rhythm. Playing them stimulates motor skills and gives a sense of self-expression. Music lessons allow autistic children to develop skills that cannot be developed in any other way.
They learn new movements more easily to the sound of music. Children who do not speak at all, who give the impression of being absent from our world, with the help of music are able to learn to take part in performances and develop speech more easily.
At a more advanced stage of treatment, you can try to compose a melody yourself, which requires the child’s attention, ability to concentrate and cooperate with another person.
Thus, with the help of music, an autistic person learns to establish a connection with outside world- a connection that will not be interrupted beyond the walls of the hospital.
Plastic surgery - determining your place in the world
Elena Gosheva, who teaches children sculpting and drawing, teaches them this way: “Close your eyes and immerse yourself in your world, in your imagination... Take a good look around - what does it look like? Imagine your loved ones - how do you see them? Try to transfer their image on paper. Draw your world, find a place in it for every object. Find a place in it for yourself..."
The drawing opens the way to the concept of the inner world of children. With the help of modeling and painting, children express everything that they do not have enough words for. On paper it is easier to organize your feelings and understand yourself.
“Until the age of ten, almost all children draw, this is part of normal development,” says Tamara Nikolaeva, who specializes in visual arts therapy. “Until this age, drawing is part of the game, natural way self-expression. Later, criticism of one’s work appears; work is treated as a test of one’s abilities. Kids are very keen on the process and materials, they use a variety of paints, pencils, charcoal, glue, plasticine, sand, feathers..."
With the help of colors, shapes and lines, children reveal to us their inner world. Looking at the drawings, we learn about the life of our child - how he sees us, his family, how he feels in this life.
“It is important to remember that a drawing is just a reason to start a conversation,” Tamara emphasizes. “A drawing will never reveal an unambiguous truth to an adult; a drawing only reflects the child’s feelings. Therefore, you need to find out from the child what he wanted to depict, what the drawn objects mean to him.” .
For example, if there is a lot of black content in a child’s work, we can assume that he is depressed and “sees everything in black tones,” but in fact for this child the color black is associated only with the neighbor’s dog, with whom he is friends and which for him - joy and happiness.
So you need not to generalize, but to analyze the work on the basis of a friendly conversation with your child.
Some children's drawings indicate their attitude to life, while others' works reflect the world in which they would like to live. So it's important to give everyone the opportunity to clarify what they mean.
The drawing does not have to be realistic; many children express themselves using lines, spots, a combination of colors or geometric shapes.
An equally important part of therapy is the opportunity for children to tinker with materials and graze in them. For example, when working with sand (an excellent material at hand for any age!) It is pleasant to touch and pour sand. If you add water, you can knead it and sculpt figures, dry it and wet it again. Playing with sand gives room for imagination; you can build caves and castles, drown and bury. You can add toys and various objects to the sandbox, this will create a whole imaginary world. Sand turns into sea and land, battlefield, mountains, beach and more, more, more...
Another advantage of sand is that figures made from it are easy to destroy. An aggressive child himself is afraid of his desire to harm others, of the forces that rage within him. By building from sand, he expresses his feelings, he is the master of this world he created and has the right to preserve or destroy it. In the process of therapy, we assume that the child will learn to free himself from anger, manage it, stop being afraid of punishment and destructive force of your anger.
By playing with materials, we give children a physical sense of freedom. A child who has been tinkering with improvised materials and is not afraid of being reprimanded is completely immersed in his work and reveals himself to the maximum in it.