Expressive Arts Therapy
Through a range of activities, such as poetry, music, and dance, expressive arts therapy enables the patient to connect with and identify their feelings and bring about good change. It is centered around creative expression. It is useful to examine this treatment type’s parent category and comprehend the purpose of expressive therapies in general in order to comprehend this form of therapy.
Expressive treatments come in two varieties. The second expressive therapy field is called creative arts therapy, but we shall be concentrating on expressive arts therapy. Traditional expression is the antithesis of expressive therapy since it places more emphasis on the product of your creative process than on what you really create. Conversely, expressive treatments focus more on how you produce than what you.
Expressive Arts Therapy Look Like?
By definition, expressive arts therapy is a type of treatment. Therefore, the goal of the creative process is to offer insights, knowledge, and healing. Transformations from one state of being into a better and more stable attitude can start to happen by directing your feelings into a creative activity.
Expressive arts therapy may take many various forms, from finger painting and drawing to giving it you’re all while dancing and performing music. Other hobbies include: sketching, painting, water coloring, drawing, writing poetry, sculpting, modeling, creating digital art, and creating comics.
How Expressive Arts Therapy Benefits Young Children
The benefits of expressive arts therapy extend to both adult and pediatric populations. Development is the main focus of this kind of treatment, whether it is social, cognitive, or emotional.
- Children Learn How to Connect with Their Feelings and Let Go of Their Emotions
Children learn appropriate ways to let go of their emotions via expressive arts therapy. Expressive arts therapy gives kids a channel to utilize anytime they feel overpowered by an uncomfortable emotion, preventing them from holding their emotions inside and eventually breaking.
It’s common in many cultures to hide your emotional condition from others around you, even from the ones you feel most at ease with, like your family. Children suffer greatly from this, particularly if they are taught to suppress their emotions. They could not get the chance to learn how to deal with their feelings, which causes a lot of psychiatric issues later in life.
Children who get emotional arts therapy are aware that they always have options when it comes to using creative expression as a means of self-expression. While some children may not be able to articulate the reasons for their current feelings of sadness, disappointment, or unease, they are nevertheless capable of identifying positive and negative emotions.
For instance, youngsters who are starting to comprehend their emotions might benefit much from painting. When a youngster paints, bright hues like pink or yellow might convey happiness, while somber tones like brown and blue can convey melancholy. Through the process of drawing pictures of their inner selves, kids improve their capacity for nonverbal communication.
- Kids Recognize How Their Actions Impact Other People
While expressive arts therapy instills in children a strong sense of accountability for their feelings, it also serves to remind them that it is totally acceptable to feel a wide range of emotions. Children are taught that it’s acceptable to feel whatever they feel and that the way they behave is influenced by the people around them.
While personal development is the main emphasis of expressive arts therapy, social development is also taken into consideration. The majority of expressive arts therapy sessions take place in groups. Youngsters receive instruction on how to communicate with their classmates and express their feelings.
Children can be free to be authentic, which is why this is so essential. They won’t give up on themselves in order to fit in with the group in this way. Youngsters may trust themselves and each other in this atmosphere because they understand that they are also accountable for their behavior.
Child Counsellor may then use the child’s behavior and manner to understand it, which is a terrific way to help kids who might not be able to express their feelings verbally. Because expressive arts therapy provides therapists a tool to assist them better understand how the children are doing, body language is a great indicator of emotional states.
- The Use of Expressive Arts Therapy Can Save the Lives of Children Who Have Tough Upbringings
Being exposed to violence, living in poverty, or growing up in an unstable home causes a host of unfavorable problems in later life. Youngsters who undergo trauma during their most developmental years are likely to find it difficult to build relationships with others. Additionally, because they are frequently used to being penalized for exhibiting emotions, it is more difficult for them to feel comfortable in social situations.
Children who have experienced trauma are frequently locked in a fight-or-flight response, which makes it difficult for their minds to settle into a calm condition. When reared in less-than-ideal environments, children can gradually reverse the effects of their early trauma using expressive arts therapy as part of their toolkit.
Through expressive arts therapy, they are shown that being authentic can happen in safe spaces. They gradually learn to trust these sources, which makes interacting with others simpler for them.
Upon closer examination, expressive arts therapy does provide a sense of security. Despite the fact that many kids from chaotic homes do not trust their environment, kids may always turn to expressive arts therapy.
Rebuilding young kids’ faith in the world takes time, but expressive arts therapy is a wonderful place to start. Additionally, it teaches them how to trust themselves—a skill that many traumatized kids find difficult to acquire.
Words from TalktoAngel
If you are interested in trying expressive arts therapy for your child you must look for a therapist specialized with knowledge and experience in expressive arts. You may, choose TalktoAngel: an Online Counselling platform with experienced and highly qualified Child Counsellors
Your therapist may lead you through an expressive art project to help you explore your Childs feelings during an expressive arts therapy session. For instance, your child’s therapist could assign you certain tasks to do or concentrate on particular artistic mediums like dancing or writing. Thus helping in overall development of the child.
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