The Impacts of Art Therapy

This research paper discusses the mental impacts of art therapy on a person’s well being. The hypothesis being presented is that art therapy helps with expressing one’s emotions, as well as dealing with troubled adolescents in helping them address their feelings. Most research discusses the basics to art therapy, and its benefits and what will solve it. But it goes way deeper than basic expression, which is why my proposal will discuss how art therapy helps people become good at problem solving and developing new reward pathways in the brain, improving one’s mentality. 

Drass, Jessica Anne Masino, “Using art to teach problem-solving and other social skills: the effectiveness of the RATE Program” (2009). Theses and Dissertations. 607. https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/607 

This article will help me see the methodology behind how to reach adolescents who are troubled through art therapy. It is written by a Rowan University colleague and is discussing programs we could improve upon on campus with the psychological background provided.

“ Teaching social skills can greatly enhance an adolescent’s self-concept. The idea of adolescent self -concept is based on an adolescent’s view of his or her own individual performance in eleven criteria. Those criteria are: mathematics, verbal ability, general school performance, physical ability, physical appearance, relationships with same sex and opposite sex peers, relationships with parents, honesty and trustworthiness, emotional stability and their general self (Hay, Byrne and Butler 2000). “ 

Berberian, Marygrace. (2019). Creative Problem Solving in Art Therapy. 10.4324/9781315229379-2. 

A new impact I have not researched yet has been brought up in this article I found interesting and it is art therapies impact on resilience. This is a new quality that I believe coincides with the others I was researching and offers a new perspective. 

“Regarding the promotion of resiliency, three key, dynamically operative mechanisms of change have emerged from current art therapy research: 1. As a conduit for assessing and mitigating connected memories and visual expression can organize cognition and memories. 2. attuned relationship with the art therapist aids in the mirroring and repair of disruptions in attachment. 3.  rewards gained from engagement in art- making lead to both pleasure and mastery.theoretically, these three broad functions work interdependently.”

Su, Fei-Ya, “How Can Students Use Art to Learn Problem Solving?” (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 8136. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8136

The angle being brought up in this research paper is more expressing the teacher’s side of art. We see the impacts and focusing on the students, but this article brings into light how the art teachers see it from their end. On top of this the quality of the art teacher curriculum and the value art class holds is a very strongly led theme throughout this text.

“ In other words, although the formal study of art therapy and its classification as a job that people can specialize in has not been here for long, the actual practices it entails, its methods and purposes, are evident throughout history. This is because the desire to explore mental realities through visual engagement is “a part of the human condition” (p. 50). In this way, like with many disciplines, it is not that art therapy had never existed before its establishment in professional practice, but rather that the professional practice draws from a rich history.”

Bosgraaf L, Spreen M, Pattiselanno K, van Hooren S. Art Therapy for Psychosocial Problems in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Narrative Review on Art Therapeutic Means and Forms of Expression, Therapist Behavior, and Supposed Mechanisms of Change. Front Psychol. 2020 .

This source is a research study conducted on children who displayed psychosocial problems and how the application of art therapy impacted them. I believe this is a useful source as it gives experimental and scientific background while still overseeing studies that range within the adolescent age group. 

“ The results showed that the use of means and forms of expression and therapist behavior is applied flexibly. This suggests the responsiveness of AT, in which means and forms of expression and therapist behavior are applied to respond to the client’s needs and circumstances, thereby giving positive results for psychosocial outcomes. “

Zielinska, E. (2020, June 23). Art in times of crisis. The Nexus. https://nexus.jefferson.edu/health/art-in-times-of-crisis/ 

This source is just fitting with the topic of application of art therapy towards problem solving. This article does discuss the reward pathways and the achievements of using art therapy. The language they use in this article is also easy to interpret and has many credible sources. 

“When we are creating art we often are taking something unresolved and achieving resolution. We might be cycling through thoughts or emotions or ideas repeatedly, and making art can help end or change the cycle. There’s an actual product. We take an idea or feeling that was living inside and externalize it, giving it form so that it can be seen and dealt with in a new way.”