Adopt Art Therapy as Treatment to Overcome Depression

Depression is a dark cloud that can make even the simplest daily tasks incredibly overwhelming. Being responsible for a job and household duties can leave you feeling completely drained. Many people use various medications to function daily and get through the feeling of tiredness and apathy. Some individuals even turn to talk therapy to help assess what they are feeling in the heart and mind. Learning to recognize your thought patterns and adjustments that can be made is often a significant move towards overcoming depression. Alternatively, art therapy is a great treatment to help combat a depressive lifestyle by means of self-discovery that has been practiced for almost 50 years.

Benefits of Art Therapy

Art therapy allows you to connect with your emotions as opposed to talking therapy which focuses on words, making your emotional outlet a form of creative expression. Art therapists use a variety of art forms from painting and drawing to sculpting, dance and drama to music and even storytelling. Therapy sessions are either conducted as individual sessions or group session with family or friends. Individual sessions are ideal for building trust within yourself or with your therapist. These sessions allow you to create an art piece without criticism while discovering your inner feelings to feel empowered. Alternatively, group sessions encourage building positive connections that help to overcome depression.

Regardless of the type of therapy setting, you find yourself in; art therapy provides you with a platform to express your feeling and thoughts which may be hindering you and be the cause of challenges in traditional forms of therapy. The reason for this is that sometimes emotions are too painful for verbal communication, especially with a therapist whom you barely know, trust or feel enough safe with to express your thoughts. Thus, art therapy gives you a means of expression without having to use words. As a result, art therapy can be used as a complementary tool to traditional forms of therapy and treatment, and not necessarily as a replacement.

How does art help in coping with depression?

Depression causes individuals to internalize some very powerful emotions. Creating an artwork gives you the opportunity to externalize these emotions in a much easier way. You unspoken inner burdens can now become a tangible art form that lifts a weight from your body by simply laying your feeling down on an artboard. Part of art therapy helps to relieve you from the negative and draining feelings; the other part is to benefit from building up positive feelings in the same manner.

It is proven that dopamine is released by creative expression. Dopamine is the hormone in your brain connected to the brain’s center for pleasure and rewards. This means that when you are painting, dancing or making music your brain releases more dopamine-making you feel less anxious and boosts your well-being, an effective method for combating depression. Anti-depressant medications are produced to have the same effect on the body. This means that you can use art therapy in conjunction with medication or as a means to reduce dependency on anti-depressant medication in order to fight the grip that depression may have on your life.