After the social movement, the pandemic struck without pause: testing, isolation, queuing to stock up, working from home, pay cuts, job losses, and the confirmed-case and death tolls on our television screens, until all of it gradually became everyday conversation. Hongkongers have come to feel as though we are living in an absurd world, dreading and fretting over each new day, while the relentless tide of pandemic news presses down until we can barely breathe. Hongkongers, are you tired? Do you feel there is suffering you cannot put into words, no way to let it out?
What is expressive art therapy?
"Art" takes many different forms — common ones include painting, collage, claying, music, dance movement, photography and film making. Expressive Art Therapy uses the creative process to achieve a therapeutic, psychological effect. In recent years the rise of Art jamming, Zentangle and toner powder painting, among others, has only underscored the appeal of art.
Why might we need expressive art therapy?
The potential limits of talking therapy
Whatever the theoretical school, most psychotherapy is conducted through conversation. But when language is the only medium of exchange between a client and their therapist, the following limits can arise:
(1) The client may not have a rich enough vocabulary, or for certain reasons (such as having lived through trauma) may be unable to put the challenges or difficulties they are going through fully into words;
(2) The therapist may not come to understand the client well enough, and so may be unable to help them deepen their self-awareness and self-discovery, and to offer suitable, well-fitting psychotherapy. On another note, research in cross-cultural psychology also points out that Chinese people commonly tend not to express their negative emotions and experiences through language, and once these suppressed emotions and thoughts go without proper outlet, they may surface in the form of physical discomfort (for example, long-term pain) — a phenomenon known as somatisation, which in turn affects our overall physical and mental wellbeing.
How does making art heal?
First of all, in making art there is no good or bad, no right or wrong. The process is about the client completing a piece of work under the therapist's guidance, in a safe and accepting environment. By then describing the process of making that work, the therapist helps the client express emotions and thoughts they have long kept buried. Because a work of art externalises and gives concrete form to one's own perceptions, emotions and memories, the client more readily relives and reconnects with the experience of that moment. What is more, in the process of making art, the client may also arrive at a deeper discovery about themselves. For example, when using clay to reconstruct (reminiscence) an important experience in life (such as a family conflict), beyond reconnecting with the feelings of that moment, the client may further analyse or make sense of the same event from a detached or shifted perspective, so that they come to observe things about themselves — such as their personal strengths, coping skills or personality traits. In group therapy, the client also has the chance to listen to other members' sharing, as well as their responses and feedback to the client's own work, gaining still more discoveries and insights.
The effectiveness of art therapy
Today, expressive art therapy is already widely applied across different groups, and the literature shows that art therapy can help improve conditions such as depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder and addiction. Beyond this, neuroscience research in recent years has found that during the creative process of art therapy the brain produces oscillations at 8–12 Hz, a frequency closely linked to an individual's level of relaxation and to pain management. The art-making process also generates activity in the brain's regions for processing memory, stillness and spatio-temporal information, which to some extent explains why art therapy can help the client relive a past event and make sense of the whole experience. Furthermore, research has found that activity in the medial prefrontal cortex increases during the art-making process, and as this region is also involved in the individual's reward mechanism, it explains why art therapy can bring the client a sense of pleasure.
Unlike a fine-art class, in the eyes of an art therapist a work of art has no better or worse; every piece is a labour of the client's heart, a mark of being able to face one's own past with equanimity. The element of psychotherapy is never far away — "make unconscious conscious". As we work through our emotions, only by understanding ourselves can we change ourselves, and make changes for the life that lies ahead.
References:
Chiang, M., Reid-Varley, W. B., & Fan, X. (2019). Creative art therapy for mental illness. Psychiatry research, 275, 129-136.
King, J. L., & Kaimal, G. (2019). Approaches to research in art therapy using imaging technologies. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 13, 159.
Vaartio-Rajalin, H., Santamäki-Fischer, R., Jokisalo, P., & Fagerström, L. (2021). Art making and expressive art therapy in adult health and nursing care: A scoping review. International journal of nursing sciences, 8(1), 102-119.
Van Lith, T. (2016). Art therapy in mental health: A systematic review of approaches and practices. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 47, 9-22.
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