Hunter Boyce | (TNS) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ATLANTA — Since ancient Greece, healers have prescribed art to aid those facing mental challenges. Today, the practice is a precisely honed craft used by credentialed professionals to help people suffering from PTSD, stress, depression and more. So whether you want to pick up a paint brush or lace up some dancing shoes, art therapy is here to help.
Here’s what you need to know to get started. Art therapy can take many forms, and the practice does not require much creative skill to work. The medium of art used in therapy will differ based on each patient’s needs.
“In art therapy sessions, your art therapist may encourage you to try different art media such as color pencils, paints, clay, and collage,” according to the American Art Therapy Association . “Sometimes non-traditional art materials (e.g.
tree branches and leaves) are intentionally introduced to you in order to expand your creative expression. You may also explore different styles of expression, using doodling, abstract designs, and contour drawing. Art therapists are trained to facilitate a type of art making for your specific needs.
” Research reviewers Heather Stuckey, D.Ed., and Jeremy Nobel, M.
D., M.P.
H., concluded in their study that art therapy “complements the biomedical view by focusing on not only sickness and symptoms themselves but the holistic nature of the person.” Through that practice, art therapy is used to aid a wide range of pat.