A specialty among artistic therapies in rehabilitative, clinical-psychological and social-preventive fields is art therapy. Art is the contrast to the materialistic-technical world. Habits, one-sidedness or sluggishness can be solved through the creative process. Through methodical-interventory forms of experience and expression, it is thus possible to express inner-psychic states and feelings in the form of a picture, graphic, photograph or sculpture, and furthermore to learn more about the inner life, emotions and psyche of the patient.
What is art therapy?
Art therapy is relatively new to the psychotherapeutic field and is designed to enhance a person’s ability to grasp their environment and feelings directly through their senses and to perceive them at all. Art therapy is related to areas of psychology, education and art science. It can also branch out again into areas of painting and design therapy, whereby painting alone is the focus of painting therapy, and the depth psychological approach plays a role in design therapy without speaking of art. Art therapy is relatively young in the psychotherapeutic field and is intended to promote the ability of people to grasp their environment and feelings directly through their senses and to perceive them at all. Creative expression in the form of visual art makes it possible to establish contact with one’s own self as well as with other people.
Treatments and therapies
Inner processes are made visible through art. This is especially helpful in somatic and mental illness. Colors and choice of form are directly related to one’s own view of life and experiences. In a therapeutic sense, the creative process is just as important as the finished work. It serves as visual material and as a surface to better grasp actions and ways of thinking, and also to develop them further in meaningful change. It is not uncommon for new creative sources to be discovered during art therapy, for self-healing powers to be promoted and for processes of change in the psyche to be stimulated. Art therapy and art history are closely related. Through art, some artists tried to express their feelings and to deal with reality more intensively. Well known are the painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, the war and nightmare paintings by Francisco de Goya or the intense and surreal processing of all pain and depression by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. A continuation of such representations of inner feelings was then also implemented in psychiatry. Well known is the collection “Bildnerei der Geisteskranken” by Hans Prinzhorn, who exhibited the works of his patients, which are very significant in their forms of expression. For example, among them is a letter written over pages long with the same lettering, without any sense of words. Intellect, as the examination of the environment and reality, and imagination, as the representation of the inner process, are the essential aspects of art therapy as a therapeutic treatment. Inner and outer expression of the creative action enable a creative process, which in turn allows the viewer to interpret and interpret all feelings. Through art therapy, creativity is encouraged and the healing process is supported. This in turn enables an inner confrontation with oneself, in order to be able to make new life decisions about it or to deal more deeply with the meaning of one’s own life. Art is thereby a confrontation with one’s own inner world, in which it is not always clearly visible who and what a person is. Only through the expression conveyed from the inside to the outside in the form of the creation of a picture or sculpture, photograph or graphic, something non-binding is established and enables a dialogue. In the process, the therapist can then also grasp emotional conflicts and make them the topic of conversation. The interpretation of the work, however, remains in the background. It is rather about the possibility of expression itself. So it is not surprising that, in addition to the creative representation, other arts are also included, such as dance, music or language.
Diagnosis and methods of investigation
Of course, there are psychological test methods besides that serve as diagnostics.These include the Rorschach test, in which the patient is asked to interpret what he sees by means of ink blots, the thematic apperception test, in which the patient is shown black-and-white picture boards with everyday scenes which he is asked to interpret, and the Wartegg drawing test, in which the patient is confronted with geometric figures according to precisely defined specifications, into which he is asked to draw his own picture. The defaults can be used, the choice of the motive is left to the patient. This is contrasted with the usual art therapy methods for artistic design. These include “measurement painting”, in which creativity is stimulated by spontaneous and rapid painting and the use of a lot of color, expressive painting, in which the focus is not on the result but on the design itself, accompanying painting, form drawing or dialogical painting, in which a joint picture is painted. Through art a contact between therapist and patient is established and leads to an interaction in individual conversations or also in the group. Superficially, the therapy forms a relationship triangle in its focal points, also known as the art therapy triad. The three levels are the creation of the work of art as a form of expression and self-expression, the relationship between patient and therapist, and the viewing and interpretation of the resulting work. Art therapy is based on various practices and disciplines, including, for example, the teachings of C. G. Jung. It applies interdisciplinary methods and various creative procedures, uses basic principles of psychoanalysis, psychology and behavioral therapy, but also cognitive sciences such as systemic therapies or anthroposophy. Illnesses always have their causes. The deeper examination of the disease situation goes hand in hand with one’s own biography. Art-therapeutic methods change the patient’s perception and can loosen a fixation on his illnesses. It is therefore suitable for people with somatic or psychological disorders, but also in crisis developments or in other psychosocial context.