Real-world examples and effects of art therapy
- Sujeong Han
- Aug 6
- 3 min read
Recently, art therapy is popular due to the increase in mental anxiety such as depression among modern people. However, despite the spotlight on art therapy, there are many people who do not yet know exactly what art therapy is and how it works.
Art therapy is a psychotherapy that helps you express your emotions or inner world through art activities and overcome psychological difficulties. The main principles of art therapy include self-expression and communication, emotional regulation and stress relief, self-awareness and understanding, and self-awareness and understanding.
First, the principle of self-expression and communication helps to freely express and communicate emotions and thoughts that are difficult to express in language through various art activities such as painting, sculpture, and making.
Second, the principle of emotional regulation and stress relief provides psychological stability and can help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression through art activities.
Third, the principle of promoting self-awareness and understanding helps you to understand and recognize yourself deeper by visually expressing and analyzing your inner world through your work.
Finally, the principle of promoting self-awareness and understanding is to resolve repressed emotions through art activities and to overcome past experiences or trauma to resolve psychological conflicts and support growth.
What are some real examples of the effects of art therapy working through these principles? In fact, there is a case of art therapy for a patient with depressive disorder in a psychiatric ward.
The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic meaning through symbolic changes in the patient's work in group art therapy for inpatients in psychiatric wards. The research was conducted at a psychiatric inpatient ward at a university hospital in Gyeonggi-do, and the selected study subjects were patients with depressive disorders who could steadily participate in the most sessions and consider symbolic changes. The study subjects expressed ambivalent emotions, such as denying reality after expressing their will for their needs in symbols in early works, but understanding themselves in symbols in the changing work expanded their horizons away from isolation with guilt. As a result of analyzing the works of the depressed patients who received group art therapy in the psychiatric ward, it was confirmed that self-symbols changed as symptoms eased, and this process helped improve reality awareness and interpersonal relationships.
Another example is an art therapy case for the anxiety of domestic violence children. The purpose of this study was to reveal that art therapy from a self-psychological standpoint to an empathetic self-object is effective in reducing anxiety and further reducing aggression and improving interpersonal relationships. The child in this study experienced difficulties in self-development by not being provided with an empathetic parenting environment due to frequent disputes by parents. The child was also hindered from self-development because he experienced physical and emotional abuse from his father while living with his father for three years from the first grade of elementary school. A total of 47 art treatments were conducted for 60 minutes per week for one year from December 2006, when they lived at a children's shelter located in Gyeonggi-do. This art therapy course reactivated stagnant self-development by providing empathetic self-objects, and after the middle period, it helped mirror transitions and idealization transitions occur, allowing the self to grow healthier by experiencing "optimal frustration" in the process.
As a result, children's anxiety decreased, and furthermore, aggression decreased and interpersonal relationships improved. As a result of this study, it was found that art therapy from the perspective of self-psychology is effective in reducing children's anxiety by providing empathetic self-objects, and furthermore, reducing aggression and improving interpersonal relationships.
Through these effects, principles, and examples, art therapy is expected to be further develop and become widely used as a safer psychotherapy method in the future. You may want to borrow the power of art therapy when you need peace of mind or support.
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