THERAPIES AND TREATMENTS
The Power of
Art Therapy By JC Ellinger A HIGH SCHOOL-AGED TEENAGER WAS ASKED TO DRAW A SELF-REFLECTION SHOWN IN THE ARTWORK DEPICTED. “THIS IS ONE ART DIRECTIVE I ASK OF MANY OF MY TWEENS AND TEEN CLIENTS,” SHARES MS. SPODEK-SCHLINDER. ADOLESCENTS MANEUVER THROUGH A PARADIGM OF INSTAGRAM-LOOK PERFECTION. THERE LIES A DEFEATING AND MISCONSTRUED IDEALISM OF HOW BEAUTY SHOULD LOOK. GROWING OUR SELF-ESTEEM AND OUR ABILITY TO REDEFINE WHAT BEAUTY AUTHENTICALLY MEANS REQUIRES A DEEPER LOOK THAT SOMETIMES, IN THIS INSTANCE, MAY TAKE MONTHS OR LONGER TO BELIEVE. THE ART THERAPIST NOTED THAT THIS YOUNG LADY “...FOCUSED ON HER FACIAL ACNE, THE WAY HER HAIR LOOKED, HOW SAD SHE FELT WHEN SHE WASN’T DISTRACTED BY HAPPY THINGS AROUND HER...” for the need for mental health, is offered in various extensions, including art therapy. Found all over the globe, from Australia to the islands of Taiwan and Thailand and across the aurora skies of Iceland, art therapy has a home establishment. The American Art Therapy Association defines art therapy as “an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active artmaking, creative process, and applied psychological theory, and human experience with a psychotherapeutic relationship.” Essentially, clients use art therapy to promote a natural and healthy process of attending to their individual psychological and cognitive needs.
A piece from Harvard University titled, The Healing Power of Art supports scientific studies that have linked the use of art and aiding individuals in a number of ways. When individuals are placed in a “fight or flight” situation, including situations that are deemed irrational or non-life-threatening such as school pressures and family frustrations, “a sequence of hormonal changes and physiological responses” takes place. Consequently, repeated activation of our individual stressors yields neurological changes such as depression, anxiety, and high blood pressure. The term “therapy” is often interpreted as a psychiatric form of mental support. But therapy, with greater acknowledgment
Paint The Stars, an art therapy center owned by Art Therapist Robyn Spodek-Schindler, adds that the changes in the education system, through art and music school programs, have caused parents and children to seek more creative options “to process various issues or symptoms.” This growth, specifically in the state of New Jersey, has seen a notable change in that “the state has passed its own art therapy license. As more and more states begin to recognize art therapy as its own important and individual field, then clients also become more aware and are more likely to reach out.” Another organization that is giving unto others is The Art of Autism, a nonprofit organization that has used the gift of art to coalesce and bring to the forefront artistic autists. The Art of Autism was founded by Keri Bowers and Debra Muzikar, both of whom have sons on the autism spectrum. They interwove their own talent of the arts into their parenting style. A glance at their
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