How can art help in therapy?
Art “speaks” when words fail
Sometimes you feel so overwhelmed that you don't know where to begin (telling your story) in therapy, feel empty, unable to get in touch with your emotions, too traumatized to speak. Art helps you. It expresses the inner Me and speaks through images, colors, shapes, writing, music.
Everyone can express themselves with colors and shapes -- no technical skills necessary
If you can hold a pencil, you can do art therapy! You can paint or draw, or create collages by selecting from a large variety of pictures, words or phrases. The focus in our work is on the deeper meaning of your art, not whether it's “good” or “bad.”
Art fosters creative energy when you’re anxious and depressed
Most people get engaged in the process of artmaking, have their own inner dialog with their artwork, feel increasingly energized by the physical movements of drawing, picking pictures for a collage, etc, and are stimulated by finding hidden parts of themselves or memories which arise in the art.
Art helps you focus when you feel overwhelmed
You need mental focus in order to give visual form to your troubles or emotional life. Once you start creating through art, you'll inevitably find yourself focusing... and that is calming and clearing in itself.
Art heals through release
Externalizing internal pain through art can be relieving. You describe in words what you see in the artwork. I may ask a few guiding questions to help you identify and name what's going on deep inside of you. This can be clarifying, cathartic, healing, releasing.
Art makes an internal experience tangible and concrete
When you struggle with inner thoughts and feelings, they're often intangible and confusing. Expression through art gives pain and confusion shape, color, a place on the page. Thoughts and feelings become concrete. Quick and and spontaneous self-expression through art often takes only a few minutes, and then functions as a diving board for deeper exploration.
Art provides a safe playground for problem-solving
When you have a conflict or problem to solve, your left (logical) brain may get overwhelmed with analyzing. However, it's your right brain that you really need to engage with because requires creativity and intuition -- a right brain function. An artwork stimulates the right brain. It can represent the problem, and by changing it in the art, you may find a resolution more easily.
A simple example might be, a black dot on a large piece of paper representing depression. The person then surrounded the lonely dot with gray and then more colorful shapes. Now, he opened up to talking about activities and people to brighten up his life but also became aware that in reality he was not as lonely as this dot. There were people who loved him and kept reaching out. Before the drawing, he was closed to any of such ideas but on the paper, he initially felt relief about expressing his mood but then after a while could not tolerate the sight of this lonely dot.
Sometimes you feel so overwhelmed that you don't know where to begin (telling your story) in therapy, feel empty, unable to get in touch with your emotions, too traumatized to speak. Art helps you. It expresses the inner Me and speaks through images, colors, shapes, writing, music.
Everyone can express themselves with colors and shapes -- no technical skills necessary
If you can hold a pencil, you can do art therapy! You can paint or draw, or create collages by selecting from a large variety of pictures, words or phrases. The focus in our work is on the deeper meaning of your art, not whether it's “good” or “bad.”
Art fosters creative energy when you’re anxious and depressed
Most people get engaged in the process of artmaking, have their own inner dialog with their artwork, feel increasingly energized by the physical movements of drawing, picking pictures for a collage, etc, and are stimulated by finding hidden parts of themselves or memories which arise in the art.
Art helps you focus when you feel overwhelmed
You need mental focus in order to give visual form to your troubles or emotional life. Once you start creating through art, you'll inevitably find yourself focusing... and that is calming and clearing in itself.
Art heals through release
Externalizing internal pain through art can be relieving. You describe in words what you see in the artwork. I may ask a few guiding questions to help you identify and name what's going on deep inside of you. This can be clarifying, cathartic, healing, releasing.
Art makes an internal experience tangible and concrete
When you struggle with inner thoughts and feelings, they're often intangible and confusing. Expression through art gives pain and confusion shape, color, a place on the page. Thoughts and feelings become concrete. Quick and and spontaneous self-expression through art often takes only a few minutes, and then functions as a diving board for deeper exploration.
Art provides a safe playground for problem-solving
When you have a conflict or problem to solve, your left (logical) brain may get overwhelmed with analyzing. However, it's your right brain that you really need to engage with because requires creativity and intuition -- a right brain function. An artwork stimulates the right brain. It can represent the problem, and by changing it in the art, you may find a resolution more easily.
A simple example might be, a black dot on a large piece of paper representing depression. The person then surrounded the lonely dot with gray and then more colorful shapes. Now, he opened up to talking about activities and people to brighten up his life but also became aware that in reality he was not as lonely as this dot. There were people who loved him and kept reaching out. Before the drawing, he was closed to any of such ideas but on the paper, he initially felt relief about expressing his mood but then after a while could not tolerate the sight of this lonely dot.
If some of this resonates, take the first step and call me
For more about me, click above
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Andrea von Troschke MFT, ATR, BCPC
Phone: 310-569-0106 Email: [email protected] 11911 San Vicente Blvd. Suite 280 Angeles CA 90049 Psychotherapy/Individuals & Couples Hypnotherapy Art Therapy |
Contact and location information
You can reach me by leaving a phone message at 310-569-0106 or sending an email to [email protected]. I try to respond within 24 hours to arrange a time for a phone call. Once we make an appointment, we would normally meet at my office (11911 San Vicente Blvd., Suite 280, Los Angeles CA 90049). However, during COVID, we will get together via Skype, Zoom, Face Time or phone.
Andrea von Troschke, MFT, ATR, BCPC (License MFC 45893)
Marriage and Family Therapist, Art Therapist Registered, Board Certified Professional Counselor
Marriage and Family Therapist, Art Therapist Registered, Board Certified Professional Counselor
