What is art therapy and why it is useful for children

Do you have a favorite activity or hobby? How does it make you feel? Surely even the anticipation of the upcoming activity immerses you in pleasant emotions and inspires you. And afterwards, you feel the stress and tension go away, and there is pleasure and relaxation. Art therapy for children works in a similar way.

What is art therapy
Today, it is a fairly popular direction in psychotherapy and psychology that appeared a little less than a century ago. Initially only visual art therapy was used, but later singing, music, dance, sand therapy, modeling, etc. were added to the methodology.

This type of correction of the mental condition helps to solve many problems and is considered the gentlest and most environmentally friendly. The main goal of art therapy for children is the development of abilities to self-knowledge and self-expression. It is possible to say that the child’s emotional intelligence is formed through creativity.

A Little History
The term art therapy was introduced in 1942 by British artist Adrian Hill. While struggling with tuberculosis, Adrian noticed that drawing helped him cope with the disease more quickly. He noted that the mind is fully immersed in the process while creating, so that he “disconnects” from his ailments. Then he began to offer to try the treatment of art to his roommates. Thus a new direction in psychotherapy was born. And in 1964, the first British association of art therapists was founded with his help.

Objectives of art therapy
As well as other branches of psychological correction, art therapy is directed at teaching the person to find ways out of life situations that cause him or her difficulties. For example, depression and phobias, which are accompanied by a lack of energy and loss of interest in life.

In the course of the sessions, the thinking process is reset and the person finds the very core that helps him or her to develop the appropriate model of behavior and cope with the problem. As for children, art therapy has a similar effect on them. And along with the therapeutic effect, it develops thinking and intellect and reveals creative potential.

Art therapy helps:

Relieve emotional stress;
improve your mood;
learn to understand their feelings and emotions, as well as the emotions of others;
transform negative thoughts into positive ones;
get rid of the stiffness and complexes;
learn to express oneself;
to cope with age crises;
to see the beauty in the little things, to develop creativity.
art therapy for children

Art therapy in work with children also helps in the treatment of psychosomatic illness, autism and cerebral palsy. Its use in combination with the main methods of treatment yields good results as an improvement in the condition of young patients.

Principles of art therapy
Diagnosis .
As with any therapy, the psychologist must first understand what to work with and how to obtain the desired result. For this purpose, each specialist has special questionnaires, tests and role-playing games in his or her arsenal which will help to accurately identify the child’s problem and assess the degree of its depth.

Choice of method and type of art therapy
Based on the diagnosis, the psychologist selects methods and types of art therapy. Among the methods are distinguished:

Active – the child creates an object of art independently from scratch. For example, he or she draws a picture, molds a figure or composes a poem. The result of the work is not evaluated in terms of beauty and quality; the process is important here.
Passive – the child is offered to use ready-made works of art, for example, to watch a video, listen to music, etc.
Mixed – the child creates his or her own masterpieces on the basis of ready-made art objects. For example, drawing or modeling.
We will consider types of art therapy further in the article.

System Work
Any technique is useless if there is no clear system of action. Therefore, it is necessary to take art therapy seriously and regularly take the child to classes. For children 3 to 6 years old 2 to 3 sessions a week are enough, for younger schoolchildren – 1 to 2 sessions, and for teenagers one session a week is enough.

Diagnostics during and after therapy. Result evaluation
To understand whether there is progress, the art therapist conducts tests after a certain number of sessions and, if necessary, corrects the methods and intensity of work with the child.

What kinds of art therapy there are
Today, among the types of art therapy, you can choose the one that your child will enjoy:

Isotherapy is the most commonly used type of art therapy. Here, it is possible to use various kinds of materials for creativity: paints, dough for molding, plasticine, crayons, pencils, and colored paper.
Drawing on the sand – this type of therapy is especially popular with children. It is so pleasant and interesting to drive your finger in the sand, creating your own drawing or figure out and sculpt figurines from it.
Music therapy – the child can simply listen to music or participate in the performance of musical pieces: play instruments or sing in a choir.