Family counsel: art therapy

There is considerable evidence that involving a violent or emotionally disturbed adult or child in any creative activity can help in ways that traditional education, incarceration and/or talk therapy could never achieve. According to John Klofas, a criminal justice professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, violence often is a result of poor communication skills. For people who cannot operate well from the left side of the brain — the site of our verbal skills — it is possible to develop social skills by engaging the right brain in creative activities. Activities such as making music or art, dancing, athletics, cooking and gardening have demonstrable behavioral, cognitive, emotional and psychological benefits.

Creativity allows access to a deeper level of consciousness, making it possible to address problems that may be inexpressible in words. Thus, creative activities can be helpful for people who choose not to talk, who talk compulsively without saying anything, who sustained emotional or physical abuse at an age before they had words to describe how they felt or who just are working through a particular life issue. This is the basis for art therapy.

As Kristin A. Rapp puts it, "Expression is the opposite of depression."

Rapp, executive director of ArtPeace Inc. (http://artpeace.org/), has a master's degree in social work from Syracuse University and one in graphic design from RIT. She discovered during years of working with people who are developmentally disabled, chemically dependent or in the court system that she could be far more effective when engaging her clients in creative activities they enjoy.

That discovery led her to found ArtPeace (which stands for Arts, Recreation and Technology Promoting Education and Creative Expression). The organization offers art therapy for individuals and groups, promotes creative community projects for young people and arranges for at-risk youth to learn about arts and technology.

Dr. Margot Fass is a psychiatrist in private practice.
25 May 2006

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060525/LIVING01/605250306/-1/COLUMNS

home / Previous feature