Teen Art Therapy
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine water.
You most likely envisioned something like a pool, a beach, a lake, a river or maybe even your bathtub. I would wager you didn’t see the word W-A-T-E-R spelled out in letters in your mind. The reason for this is that humans think in images. We know that even before they can verbalize thoughts, small children can think in images. Art therapy utilizes this preverbal language of images to help children and teens express emotions, thoughts and ideas that can be difficult to put into words. Using imagery taps into our earliest way of knowing and reacting to the world.
Art therapy is a mix of language, psychology and the visual arts. It’s a language beyond the barriers of written words. In art therapy, the use of metaphor and imagery is a non-threatening means of working through feelings and thoughts that can be difficult to articulate verbally. Art therapy can provide an arena in which adolescents express thoughts and feeling in a safe, contained environment.
New Narrative
Art therapy is an experiential style of learning that helps individuals get in touch with their feelings and emotions. It taps into a vital part of the subconscious that can help heal. Through art, individuals are able to take negative images, color them in a different way and create a new narrative, a new story that feels strong, empowering, and healing. In art therapy, a teen is asked to make a collage, make some marks on paper, or shape a small piece of clay to illustrate the difficulties that have brought them to therapy. The art therapist does not interpret the art piece, and the teen is free to share as much of the meaning of their art as he or she chooses. Adolescents tend to be attracted to making symbols and graphic depictions; therefore, they are more attracted to using art as language than to verbal questioning. When the negative behavior is illustrated, it is then external to the individual, and the behavior thus becomes the problem, not the individual.
To read more, pick up a copy of the July 2015 issue at any of these locations, or view the digital archive copy here.
