Art Therapy for Trauma and Mental Health Disorders
Countless complex feelings come with trauma and mental health disorders, ranging from fear, grief and self-doubt to hope, determination and gratitude. These thoughts need an outlet to prevent you from feeling stressed, anxious or burned out; keeping this rollercoaster of emotions pent up inside your mind is not good for you, mentally or physically. But productive processing and coping mechanisms can take time and effort to learn. It can be easy to turn to bad habits that temporarily make you feel calmer or in control, but over time they will take a toll on your health. Therapies like art in healing can be noticeably effective in treating trauma and mental health disorders because participants are given a healthy way to express and let go of the emotional weights that they carry inside themselves.
In many cases, those who struggle with mental health disorders or have had traumatic or distressing experiences can be afraid of talking about or sharing what they have been through. For some, reliving the moment is too painful. For others, the fear of judgment keeps them from opening up. But art in healing helps creates a space where an ugly or negative experience can become beautiful, or where words are not necessary to let others know how you feel.