Art therapy: what is it and how can it help?

We spoke to an Art Therapist at a Marie Curie Hospice to find out more.

Art therapy is a structured form of psychotherapy led by a trained art therapist or art psychotherapist. It focuses on using art materials and techniques to promote healing and personal insight, to give emotional and psychological support to people facing difficulties in their lives. Art therapists study things like psychoanalysis, developmental psychology and neuroscience. They are as rigorously trained as other psychotherapists.

Art therapy is often mistaken for art as therapy – craft groups, art workshops. This emphasises self-expression and relaxation through artmaking and doesn’t need a trained therapist.

Art therapy is deeper. People need to know that you can go deep, and fast.

It is common for people to feel hesitant at first due to a misconception that they will be judged on the art they produce. You don’t need to be “good” at art or have previous experience. The role of an art therapist is to provide a safe and non-judgmental space to enable people to express difficult thoughts and feelings, process traumatic experiences and increase self-awareness.

Many art therapists work in a non-directional way, with no theme, so that people can bring what they need to that session, because this can be more suitable to the setting. If an art therapist were to work in a themed way, they could set a theme like, ‘Please draw a boat sailing away and what would be on it.’ But being non-directional is more based around whatever needs to come up for that person.

The patient who had meant to paint a green riverside landscape, but the sky escalated. They decided to turn the paper the other way up so the blue became a choppy looking dark sea. There is a boat with no windows, no sail, no mast, no crew and no rudder.

The patient, who was living with Motor Neurone Disease, said it resonated with how they felt; unable to take control of their life and at the mercy of a dark and powerful sea (MND). The patient and I spent the rest of the session unpicking this, validating the patients’ feelings and thinking together of coping mechanisms.

Claude Monet’s famous ‘Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies’ paintings. You can see from his later works how his eyesight deteriorated. His paintings seem darker and murkier, giving the viewer an idea of what the world looked like through Monet’s eyes.

Patients coming to the hospice for art therapy are similar. They may be at the end of their lives, and they've lost a lot. But you can still create and still show people what's going on in your inner world.

Yes, art is a wonderfully rich and expressive way for people to communicate with others. I will always remember one patient who had individual art therapy sessions and could no longer talk but he would come, and we would sit together quietly while he painted. He would give me a wink, smile and carry on painting. The session felt quiet and peaceful, and it was a privilege to witness his art making.

It's the biggest privilege to be with someone when you know that they don't have forever left. I often think ‘Wow, they'd want to spend an hour of their time with me, and working on themselves.’ I don't know how I would put it into words. It's just a privilege.

“Art therapy has given me confidence to believe that I’m still capable of trying new things. Being able to discuss my medical/family bereavements in a relaxed, creative environment. You don’t have to be a great artist to enjoy painting or drawing. Simply making a pattern on a sheet of paper can be hugely rewarding, let your imagination run riot.”