The Pros and Cons of Art Therapy

It can be argued how to apply art therapy to patients; it can also be disputed whether or not these tactics work at all. Different behavioral issues, life circumstances, and obstacles all require different types of therapy in order to address the individual. Is art therapy capable of being applicable to everyone?

We have seen a vast majority of studies point towards art therapy being beneficial in aiding the mental health issues seen in youth. Art therapy is not solely used as the main form of therapy most of the time, but rather as an additional practice towards one’s ongoing treatment. But not everybody is equipped to gain a positive experience from this practice; as with any other form of therapy, some are more widely applicable to certain conditions than others.

In a Health Technology Assessment study revolving around the impacts of art therapy, it is seen that not all of the patients were positively impacted. While it was not deemed directly harmful, some patients claimed they simply did not see any effects, on either the positive or negative spectrum, that could play a role in how they were impacted emotionally by art therapy.

More serious concerns included art therapy causing anxiety, increasing pain, and resulting in the activation of emotions that were not resolved. In one study, a participant was also concerned that art therapy may be harmful if the art therapist was not skilled. A final concern was that it may be harmful if art therapy is suddenly terminated. These findings were seen across only two studies, both in patients with cancer.

Many individuals have certain comforts and outlets when it comes to taking a vulnerable stance with their emotions. In this example pulled from the study, the third chapter discussed how some recipients had concerns revolving around the therapist themselves, as in whether or not they would feel comfortable. This correlates to almost any therapeutic practice; the most critical thing firsthand is the bond or relationship between the patient and the therapist. In practicing art therapy, the fear of connecting with a therapist is one shared amongst any other therapist from any other field or practice. Whether it is communicative-based or expressive, a client-doctor relationship is always one of the main concerns in determining a patient’s comfort.

In the article Art in Times of Crisis by Edtya Zielinska, it discusses an art therapist named Rachel Brandoff, how she utilizes this therapy practice, and how she is able to connect it with clients. This example from the article shows firsthand how art therapy’s success is heavily dependent on how the therapist works with their clientele, in this case, a group of people struggling with domestic violence.

As the weeks progressed, the projects became more complex and more intertwined with other members of the family: perhaps each person would make a component of a single piece. The final work was something they’d create as a team. They had the ability to plan and strategize, to communicate and negotiate, and they had the opportunity to get better at these skills. They had to work out their way of working together. This takes practice. What if someone in the family had all the voice? How does everyone get heard? There isn’t a single right way to be a family.  My job was to help them find their best way. Therapy is often about training to better handle the challenges in life, and in art therapy we can create smaller problems that aren’t life-interrupting and use that as a practice ground.

Many of these practices’ main critics are those who tend to be more self-critical and cannot draw the line between doing something for a project versus for your own benefit. Hence, many stop art around age 11, when we begin to develop harsher criticisms of ourselves. But like the study and Rachel Brandoff’s practices, they were able to see how the therapist themselves does much of the work for their clients by being able to differentiate how art is used recreationally, goal-oriented, and therapeutically.

Art therapy is under the same criticism we see in therapists who just want to sit and talk with their clientele; it does not apply to everyone’s capacity for expressing emotions.

Rachel Brandoff further emphasizes this; 

I’ve heard many people say that they don’t want to have to tell their whole story all over again. But we do that all the time in life anyway, and in therapy you can tell what you want in your own way. In art therapy, you don’t even have to tell it.

This type of practice is not the traditional, orthodox forms of therapy that we have seen being used as a foundation for mental health and trauma treatment for decades. This type of therapy is an evolution of what we used to see in order to alleviate stressors and some of the harder parts of communicating. While it is possible to have a negative experience, this therapeutic method is still more widely applicable to adolescents than solely using other forms of psychotherapy. This problem solving is less direct than confronting a patient’s emotions; hence, it is easier for the perception of its effectiveness to be warped, as sometimes the slow buildup seen in this practice does not come with major revelations that may prompt one to see progress directly.

Therapy is different for all of its subjects, and there are many factors that play into how one may portray it, whether or not they are susceptible to outstanding contributing factors. Of course, a practice cannot apply to everyone, whether it’s your internal susceptibility or the therapists’ doing. It is frequently common for people to not want to complete therapy programs, giving a stain on many’s perceptions of looking for help. The public’s opinion stemming from this is what has created an overshadowing about how, if applied correctly, art therapy can be applied across a variety of ages as well as behavioral issues.

References

Uttley L, Scope A, Stevenson M, et al. Systematic review and economic modelling of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of art therapy among people with non-psychotic mental health disorders. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2015 Mar. (Health Technology Assessment, No. 19.18.) Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279634/ doi: 10.3310/hta19180

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