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Pakistan floods: Using art therapy to cope with the trauma – gallery

Check out this photo gallery provided by the Guardian,

“Six months after the devastating floods in Pakistan, children in flood-affected areas are still traumatised and suffer from anxiety, depression and phobias, a new study by Save the Children has revealed. The aid agency has set up 174 safe play areas for children in the worst-hit places, where children have received emotional support through art therapy, group counselling and play activities. We hear from some of them…”

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Kids Draw Divorce

“Kids’ Turn, a divorce education program located in San Francisco, encourages children grappling with their parents’ split to express their feelings through art. Founded in 1988, the program–which serves five counties in the Bay Area–has been replicated nationally and internationally, and will be implemented in Great Britain later this year. The following pictures, which were drawn by kids and teens ages 5 to 15, express in crayon and marker feelings often too difficult to explain in words.”

Hat tip Sara Windrem for sending me this article in the Huffington Post.

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If This is Top Art Therapy News…

…then we’re in trouble. Found through a google news search, this is one of the top articles on art therapy.

Let us distinguish art therapy from art expression…or simply, blowing off some stream through art making. As awareness of our profession increases, I’d expect that the misuse of the term art therapy will increase as well, which is why it’s important to stay firmly rooted in the definition of what art therapy is.

Art therapy is not only about self expression. It’s about understanding and working with one or several paradigms rooted in psychological theory, and then integrating those paradigms with:

  • The way the art work is created (materials and tools that are used)
  • The way the art work is explored between the client, therapist and/or group


    • From the AATA website: Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. It is based on the belief that the creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight.

    Writing profane words over a picture can be art therapy. But, a group of people spontaneously using photoshop to insult or make a political statement is just that—art making for the sake of insult and statement making. Yes, it’s a form of self expression, but that is not art therapy.

    As professionals we need to stay true to the definition of what we do. Otherwise every rude and over-the-top form of self expression will be confused for the delicate, difficult and enlightening work that is art therapy.

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    Nigeria—The Importance of Art Education

    Taken from the Nigerian paper, The Compass, Kent Onah observes that teaching children a curriculum that excludes art does them (and by default the nation) a great disservice. Without creativity, innovation will not take place.

    “…The polymer scientists needs some artistic knowledge to be able to come up with good polymeric innovations. The industrial designer must basically be an artist first if he/she can create useful and attractive products. The food technologist must first have a basic knowledge of art to perform effectively. The psychoanalyst or psychiatrist can not treat effectively all the time without employing art therapy.

    As mentioned earlier, the medical doctors and surgeons depend on artistic illustrations to treat and to teach.

    The environmental designers must basically be talented artists. The list is endless. The active presence of art in the curriculum will help the child to communicate better by exposing him/her to other outlets of communication beyond his/her mother tongue and verbal communication.

    The creative process involved in the teaching or production of art helps to break the monotony in the study of other courses. As art is activity based, it adds variance to the teaching and learning process, thereby breaking boredom and encouraging more assimilation and better understanding. Art develops and improves the imaginative power of a child as well as encourage him/her to observe greater details in appreciating his/her culture and environment.

    The inclusion of art studies in the school curriculum will help to discover as ‘well as treat or proffer solution to a child with psychological problem at its earliest stage. It will encourage resourcefulness among our youths and empower them toward self- reliance. It will expose the child to the endless potentials of art as a humanizing experience.

    Above all, it will reawaken an interest in the visual arts which is the basic ingredient on which science and technology rely for their ultimate success…”