Anxiety and depression are becoming more well-known disorders, affecting 28.8% of Americans in the United States alone. People usually have to spend hundreds of dollars on medications for maintaining these disorders, although sometimes they do not even do that. Is there a better alternative to help treat these disorders? Art therapy is a much more effective, affordable, and safe way of treating anxiety and depression rather than medications.
Anxiety is a disorder involving much more than just temporary worry or fear. The fear that people with anxiety disorder feel may never truly go away and can become worse as time progresses. People who suffer from anxiety can often fall victim to unexpected panic attacks as well. Symptoms of anxiety are
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Art therapy involves creating art and talking to ease self-expression. This kind of self-expression helps to directly relieve feelings that may be overwhelming if left alone and unaddressed. Art therapists are trained and experienced in both art and psychological therapy (Peebles, 2011). This experience allows them to work alongside the client to help the client with self-expression and to help strengthen communication between the …show more content…
Studies have found that incorporating art into a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) treatment has resulted in fewer panic attacks in people with disorders such as anxiety (Study finds art therapy effective in treating anxiety disorders, 2014). Research shows using art for therapeutic reasons actually dates as far back as the 1940’s. Art therapy can benefit people with anxiety by giving them a way to express their inner thoughts and feelings with others in ways that they could not have before.
Many people who have actually undergone art therapy say that without creating a piece of art at the beginning of a session, they would have found it extremely difficult to talk directly about themselves with the therapist. The clients can explain what they are feeling by using the artworks they have created. Making an artwork, helps sufferers open up and communicate, and in some cases, the process increases