I love Pascal,s triangle... More on topic, art therapy didn't work for me because the only options I was given were drawing/painting. I think crafting would have been better for me, personally.
The only time you will find real light is when you're searching in the dark..
OP, check this out. I bought it not too long ago, and it is an amazing book! I've done some of the activities myself, and also took the book up to the psych ward where I work.
Well for me I am not artistic and in the hospital when I did art therapy I did not find it therapeutic. Now in daily life I have taken a few beading classes and a paint ceramics. I felt that was more therapeutic because it got me out with people so the social aspects and also I learned something which made me feel productive. So I feel it could of been a book club or another class that had similar impact.
I did notice in the hospital and inpatients how many artistic people there were and I think doing something with that talent was very helpful. I remember a man who had not done drawing in a long time did there and it was amazing how talented and you could see how good he felt about it. I think that helps boost the mental aspects when you feel accomplished.
OP, check this out. I bought it not too long ago, and it is an amazing book! I've done some of the activities myself, and also took the book up to the psych ward where I work.
Aah I get it now! Thank you :) That is pretty cool. I may try it next time I need to focus my head.
You're welcome. It's fun, especially when you do it in binary and colour-code the 1's and 0's.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
I absolutly love art therapy, it has been extremely helpfull for me. I have lots of trouble speaking and art has really helped. I have done it primarily in a group session. It went something along the lines of this: a few of us around a table, therapist gives us somesort of directive based on how we are all doing example-draw a bridge(literal or not) going from one place to another, draw a picture of your innerself, draw how you see yourself and how you think other people see you, draw a container for your emotions....we didnt just draw we could had collage materials, clay, markers, pencils, pastels.... it was pretty open ended, you didnt have to do the directive if you didnt want to. sometimes we talked as we worked othertimes we didnt, at the end we discussed out art, people gave input, many times they pointed out things that you didnt even think about when you were doing your art.
it doesnt have to be "good" art, it can be scribbles, believe me not all of my things look nice, once i just covered the entire paper in black oil pastel, othertimes i made lots of red slashes whatever works right?
Art therapy can be used for many reasons but it tends to be one of the top methods for treating trauma survivors or people with PTSD. There are a couple theories out there. From what I've read, when someone has experienced trauma (e.g. abuse in childhood or a natural disaster, something like that) the left part of the brain (where language is) kind of dims down, making the person struggle with talking about what happened and working it out, but the right side of the brain (emotion) lights up very strongly. Art therapy allows the person a medium to "speak" about whatever happened and the emotional result of what happened because it requires use of the right side of the brain and eventually can lead to the person be more able to verbalize past trauma and talk about it.
Sorry to give a long drawn out definition, but a saw some posts asking how it could work and I'm going to school to be a therapist and plan to specialize in art therapy so I thought I would share what I know about it so far.
I struggle to understand deeper meanings of things though, which I suppose is part of my autism. I was assessed for psychodynamic psychotherapy and was told it wouldn't help for that reason.
I actually did do art GCSE, but only because it had no exam (so one less exam to take at the end of the year). All of my drawings were technical drawings or done by computer graphics.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
I will have to agree with one other person from an earlier post that the US hospitals are VERY restrictive. For as long as you are there the only outside you see is through a window and have nothing to do but crossword puzzles journals and TV during certain hours. Groups yes but they don't do anything and at one hospital we had art therapy. I laughed at it though as it was paper and crayons. Yea I think it can be quite beneficial given your interests and mediums of interest as well. It all can help you figure out more about you if nothing else.
Steel Maiden-- I was a graphic design major at one point before changing my major...that sounds really cool and fun. I love stuff like that.
Strawberry11 - that sounds good. I used to do graphic design in my spare time but now I don't do it.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
The therapist I have been seeing for about half a year now is an "Expressive Arts Therapist." I get to dance, write poetry, make collages, and make scenes in a sand tray, among other things. It's helping me a lot, because I can express things creatively much better than I can with just talk therapy. What crunchycrystal said is pretty much my experience with it. There are some things that I don't necessarily realize on a conscious level that will come out in my art.
It's definitely not for everyone - different types of therapy help different people - but I think I've finally found something that works for me. Even if it can be pretty scary at times - the things my therapist can figure out about me just by looking at my art. It's scary, but it's good.
To The Light My blog on "Mercy Ministries, mental illness, self-injury & other important topics."
I don't do art therapy as such, but I attend arts groups for people with mental illness. Going has MASSIVELY boosted my self-confidence, I've made friends, and it's great to have a few hours a week where I can get out of the house and focus on something other than my problems. We do all sorts of fun stuff and the staff have great ideas.
I imagine art therapy is helpful for people who find it difficult to put into words what they're feeling or are shy when it comes to talking about their problems. Art can also be very cathartic.
There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: 'This glass is half full'. And then there are those who say: 'This glass is half empty'.
The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: 'What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!
It sounds like it would be really helpful for me as I have a lot of trouble speaking and I adore drawing and creating, but I always get directed to a kind of talk therapy or counselling despite this, and it never helps. Am I allowed to straight out ask for it?
You're allowed to straight out ask for any sort of treatment you feel would be helpful. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean you will get it as it would depend on availability in your area and whether the doctor thought it would be helpful for you. But it sounds like you have good reasons for wanting to try it so it's definitely worth asking about.
Some areas also offer it on a private basis, and, near me there is a voluntary organisation that does various therapies including art for a donation.
