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Introducing: Anxiety Using Art Therapy

Techniques to Alleviate Anxiety

3 4

Removing Stigma Case Studies

Anxiety,

...So..

nice to meet you.

Or not.

Anxiety. It is one of the most common, yet indefinately one of the most taboo subjects within mental health. Far too many individuals are suffering in silence, worrying they are not ‘normal’, or simply they are not aware themselves of the symptoms they have are infact the symptsoms of anxiety (sweating, palpitations, panic).

There are a variety of methods in alleviating anxiety, through varying forms of Creative Therapies i.e. Music Therapy, Drama/Movement Therapy, Group Therapy.

Although these are fantastic routes to aiding an individuals’ anxiety, this particular study has been focused solely on Art Therapy and its many benefits.

It has been proven that simple techniques such as mark making, line drawings and painting are all ways of which an individual can express themselves without feeling added pressure of being prompted for verbal responses.

In the aim of dispelling stigma from mental illness and Art Therapy, this publication will portray imagery created by clients of Art Therapy sessions and Case Studies.

Art Therapy:

Any session of Art Therapy consists of the individual using various drawing media to produce imagery. Since it is such a personal experience, each person will have their own preferences regarding environment, drawing media and how they like to approach producing the imagery. For example, a task is set by the Therapist and the individual will select their preferred drawing media. i.e. charcoal, paint.

Each medium can represent various meaning and can become symbolic to the indivudal. For example, making dark, heavy marks can signify the individual is feeling angry, upset, depressed. In reflection, light, precise, line drawings can represent feelings as a source of strength and progress throughout the sessions.

Drawing Techniques

Visuals

It is common for most Art Therapy sessions to involve asking the invidual(s) to draw something simple such as a tree or a house. These basic tasks involve alot more than imagined. The drawings are analysed through the same processes as previously explained; examining mark making and what they represent.

Another aspect of this exercise, is analysing the drawing and seeing if it represents the individuals’ current or past life.

For example, it is common for a person to draw poverty, crime or sad faces which strongly represnt their own bad experiences i.e. involvement in crime, bad homelife. In order to remove the negative feelings/ thoughts, on the subject, they must draw them and alleviate their ‘bottled up’ feelings about the events they have experienced.To provide a clear representation of how individuals can produce unique, beautiful and story telling imagery. through Art Therapy- read on!

Collage

Producing art in Art Therapy sessions can consist of using almost any media.

The standard drawing materials regularly used are pen, pencil and paint. Some Art Therapists choose to bring along additional materials for their clients to experiement with.

Some of these are clay (usually for when the Therapist feels the individual has progressed enough) and even balloon modelling.

Experimenting with various media can help the individual build up confidence in their mark making.

Although not every client feels comfortable in doing so and so tend to stick with the equipment they feel most comfortable with.

The above is a collage produced in session, where the client was not comfortbale in using drawing materials and preferred to write their Anxieties. This involved sticking pieces of ripped paper and painting across the papers, meanwhile writing their worries on the pieces. A watercolour wash was added with hints of colour.

Pen

& Ink

Pen and Ink is a simple yet beautiful technique of which any individual can do. It is not the most common drawing material in Art Therapy sessions, although some Therapists may choose to let the client experiment with it.

The technique involves the person drawing and mark making, as minimal or detailed as they naturally feel is best.

Dark, heavy lines are a signification of the individuals’ reference to their past event(s) which they are now releasing through the ink. Usually, it can be quite clear to the Therapist that they have strong anxieties, through looking at their representation.

If the mark makings lean towards more fine and linear lines, it is often found to indicate that the individual feels confined and restricted in their drawings and also their life. It may even signify they have low cofidence or low self-esteem.

Removing Stigma

There is so much stigma attatched to mental health, where it is a taboo subject which people are afraid to talk about openly.

As previously discussed, Anxiety is the focus of this study, and how Art Therapy can alleviate a persons’ Anxiety.

In order to remove the stigma and infact promote Art Therapy as a fantastic and less pressurising way for an individual to express their feelings in a non verbal way.

For those who are not aware of Art Therapy or just how much it can benefit an individual, the imagery and case studies displayed throughout, are strong examples of the artwork produced in sessions and information on the processes involved.

“We’re treated as if we are ‘less than’ just because of our illness.”

‘ITS ALL IN YOUR HEAD “And a lot of people with a mental illness are stigmatized.”

’

There is far too much stigma attatched to mental health which is still considered a taboo subject to many, considering 5% of people in the UK suffer from anxiety and 10% suffer from a combination of anxiety and depression.

Consdering these statistics from Anxiety UK, we as a nation need more education and knowledge of anxiety disorders in oder to understand just how important it is for sufferers to get the right help.

Art Therapy sessions are usually provided in 6 weekly sessions.

Sometimes if a client feels they want to continue to have additional sessions as they may not feel ready to end their sessions. Some individuals require longer periods of time with their Art Therapist, depending on the individual and their own personal needs.

In order of raising awareness of how vital Art Therapy sessions can actually be to an individual who is suffering from an anxiety disorder, whether it may be linked to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OSD), Social Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Panic Disorder (Panic Attacks) or even a Phobia, Art Therapy has been proven to alleviate the individuals symtoms. It is not a magic cure and will not completely ‘get rid’ of the persons’ condition, but it can certainly help to lessen their anxiety symptoms.

Case Studies Meet Emma.

She is now 22 years old and has suffered from depression and anxiety from an early age. As a child she noticed that she was not as happy or enjoyed the same things that she once used to.

After years of feeling like she was not ‘normal’.

Soon after she was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression. She was given various options for alleviating her stresses, one of them being Art Therapy. She attended 6 sessions after school. During the sessions, she would be encouraged to use pens, pencils, paints and even clay as the sessions and her confidence progressed.

Her Therapist would prompt her and other clients to express their feelings using non-verbal methods, while combining other techiques such as Sound Therapy. This would involve playing music, incombination with producing imagery. Once her sessions ended, her anxiety and depression became much easier to handle.

She still continues to produce her own imagery at home in her own ‘personal space’ where she can reflect on her feelings and try to continue to express herself through art.

The above images Emma produced were through using acrylic paint on canvas. The mark making portrays strong elements of mixed messages. The messy brush strokes can signify a fast paced lifestyle, confusion or even feeling lost.

The colour palette contains mostly dark tones, with sparingly white strokes. This could hint at the depression the client was feeling at the time.

Each of the paintings closely illustrate her feelings at the time, with bold, heavy marks signifying her negative thoughts.

There is a subtle change between them, although clear to an Art Therapist, where she used less and less black as she developed in each sesssion, perhaps indicating her depression was improving through the sessions.

Michael.

Michael loves using wax crayon on almost all of his drawings.

The image above was created through crayon, biro and charcoal. Michael has always told Therapists that for his true emotions and anxiety, he likes to layer his media and make them clash. By contrasting these, his work strongly reflects his confusing state he finds himself in on a regular basis.

On a good day, Michael tends to use aqua colours in his drawings.

There are key elements in the image shown (right) which signify his past, i.e. the square blocks we can see on the bottom right, which afterseveral sessions in, Michael verbalised that they in fact symbolised his homelessness when he was younger.

Michael uses a variety of colours in his mixed media imagery.

He uses wax crayons in combination with charcoal and pencil. Blue is a dominant colour in Michaels’ drawings,

where when asked about them, he said that it represented his “tears” that he cried when experencing bad events in his past. All of his images are chaotic; a clear representation of his life.

Josh.

Each splatter was used through mixing acrylic paints, gouache and water to produce the effect. Josh’s work reflects a strong sense of anger and frustration in whichever situation he was currently in at the time, or more than likely a bad past.

He loves to experiment with how paints create a mark instead of using pen/ink for mark making. Visually, his work is eye catching and raises several questions to the viewer, such as to what he was thinking at the time to produce such imagery, using this particular technique.

Josh always uses paint in all forms when creating his imagery.

Multi-coloured painting, always paint splatters and inky drips running down the canvas.

Paint running and splatters generally signify the individuals’ tears which they have kept inside so it is huge progress for them to express themselves in such a strong way.

Sophie.

Sophie suffers with bad Anxiety and finds that fast-faced mark making helps to alleviate her symptoms. The dark lines are clearly representations of her feelings i.e. panic, chaos, distress and anger. Along with the Art Therapy sessions, Sophie had a combination of both Art and Sound Therapy when creating

her imagery. The following images on the opposite page were all created over a matter of weeks, starting from Session one, following onto Session 6, the last session.

Once she had finished attending the sessions, Sophie still continued to create her own Art Therapy sessions at home.

The images above were fast-paced and ‘wreckless’ in appearance. Although Sophies’ pieces may appear to be just ‘scribbles’, but the way she has created the mark making, thrugh bold and heavy lines through to the thinner and more linear marks.

As an individual, Sophie suffers with severe depression and low self-esteem, which directly made her develop anxiety. The black and white images were created on a ‘bad day’ which is clearly demonstrated, wheras the purple and black was created when Sophie was having a better day than usual.

Jack.

Jacks’ images are completely paint-based, where they appear to be very abstract and complex. He mixes any colours together it is purely about the brush strokes and how he releases his thoughts onto the paper or whichever surface he chooses to paint on.

Each of jack’s paintings reflect strong emotion and complexity. The series shown clearly demonstrates his deep emotive mind set.

He does not verbalise any of his thoughts, but simply paints them and believes the Art Therapy sessions have helped him immensely.

LINKS & Info Art Therapy Links: www.baat.org www.arttherapyalliance.com www.journals.gold.ac.uk

Links for seeking advice on Anxiety Disorders: www.nopanic.org www.mind.org.uk www.mentalhealth.org.uk www.youngminds.org.uk www.ocduk.org