Art Therapy is an effective treatment for the developmentally, medically, educationally, socially, or psychologically impaired ("FAQ").  It is especially helpful for children, adolescents and adults who have difficulty verbalizing their feelings, those who struggle with significant losses, trauma, past abuse, unresolved grief, adjustment of family problems, or who have problems with body image or physical illness.  Besides, it is also appropriate for those who are highly verbal or tend to intellectualize, as art help bypass the parts of us which censor what we are willing to talk about (Feldman).      Art therapy is beneficial even when people are not struggling with problems.  It can enhance personal growth, increase and deepen self-awareness, creativity and the imagination.  Art making in art therapy facilitates the exploration of identity, the making of positive life choices and supports people through life transitions (Feldman).      Here is a true story about how an art therapist found comfort and strength in art, music, and writing as she struggled to recover from a stroke.      Ruth suffered a stroke 8 years ago.  The right side of her body was not able to move at all.  "The feelings came pouring out - I was mad as hell, I was grief-striken, and I was scared!  What could I possibly do in this helpless state?  My life was suddenly different."      She had hard times in a hospital bed and recognized that she needed some way to express her feeling of sorrow.  She wanted to DRAW!  "The images were in my still functioning head, and there had to be some way to bring them to the paper through my left hand."      She got out of the hospital bed and room to a patio by wheelchair.  Her daughter bought her tapes of music, a tape-deck, earphones, plus her favorite coloring pens and a tablet of drawing paper.      At first, her efforts were shaky and the coloring pen didn't go where she intended.  But then she realized that it was going where she wanted it to go, and she had to try to understand these directions and her need for them.  She let the colors lead her - and it worked!  Some colors were energizing and uplifting while others were pacifying and some actually enervating.    < BACK                                                                                                                                     NEXT >