Sensory art therapy


Sensory art therapy is a type of treatment that uses all kinds of art to explore emotions, resolve psychological conflicts, reduce anxiety, as well as decrease physical pain. The creative and nonconventional process of sensory art therapy often elicits better results for individuals who suffer from chronic stress, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as those who have been diagnosed with learning/development disabilities.

History

Early years

Margaret Namburg, Edith Kramer, Hanna Kwiatkowska and Elinor Ulman have been credited with being the pioneers of the field of sensory art therapy. While all of these scientists made significant contributions, Margaret Namburg has been hailed the "Mother of Art Therapy". Her work focused on the use of art, mainly as a psychoanalytic diagnostic tool. It followed closely other psychoanalytic practices of the time, and was viewed as the communication of unconscious ideas and emotions that were being expressed by the patient.

Modern approaches

Today's art therapy is broken down into three different approaches: psychodynamic, humanistic, learning and developmental. The psychodynamic approach uses terms such as "transference" and defense mechanism to describe why individuals express the art in the way they do, and why this is an expression of the subconscious. The humanistic approach is more of a positive psychology approach, and is defined by an optimistic view of humans, and how expression through their art allows them to take control over these emotions. The learning and developmental approach focuses on the art therapy as a method to assist children who have emotional and developmental disabilities.

Types

Many different types of art therapy have been developed over the years in order to combat different types of pain, anxiety or stressors in the lives of patients. Different techniques have also been developed to ensure that art therapy can help as many diverse people as possible.

Art therapy

  1. Self-discovery
  2. * This discovery often leads to a relief of emotional tension caused by past events, and can be used as a coping mechanism.
  3. Empowerment
  4. * Art therapy gives individuals the ability to articulate their fears and stresses in a non-conventional way, and often leads to sense of control over these emotions.
  5. Stress relief
  6. * Effective for stress relief by itself, but can provide even better results if paired with other relaxation devices such as guided imagery.
  7. Physical pain relief and rehabilitation
  8. * Art therapy has been shown to help decrease pain in patients who are recovering from illness and injury. It has also been used in patients who are chronically or terminally ill, to provide relief and pain control.

    Empirical evidence

Ball (2002)

Ball conducted long-term research on five children who were considered to be severely emotionally disturbed. These children participated in 50 art therapy sessions, and the results suggested that the art therapy was successful, and the children showed marked progress in their treatment over the course of the 50 sessions.

Pifalo (2006)

In this study, 41 girls or young women who had been sexually abused were given structured group art therapy for eight weeks, and were measured before treatment using the Briere's Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children. They were given the test again after the treatment, and for 9 out of 10 of the girls, a statistically significant reduction in scores on the test were observed.

Bar-Sela, Atid, Danos, Gabay & Epelbaum (2007)

This study worked with 60 adults who had cancer. These adults attended weekly individual art therapy, in addition to watercolor painting classes. After just four sessions, the experimental group saw marked and significant improvement in depression and fatigue, as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a brief fatigue inventory. While they showed a decrease in depression, there was no significant difference in the levels of anxiety of the patients.

Gusak (2006)

In this study, the researcher worked with 29 incarcerated men. The men attended eight sessions of group art therapy, and were tested before and after the treatment using the Beck Depression Inventory Short Form. After the eight sessions, all of the men showed significant improvement in the symptoms of depression and their score on the Beck Depression Inventory reflected these improvements.

Bulfone et al. (2009)

In this study Bulfone et al. utilized music therapy as their treatment. 60 women who had been diagnosed with stage 1 or 2 breast cancer were randomly assigned to a control or experimental group. The control group received standard assistance before chemotherapy, while the experimental group had the chance to listen to music before the chemotherapy began. The results showed that the anxiety levels of the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group, and also showed a significantly lower level of depression.