Art Therapy

Question for those who see Art T's.

As some of you know I ended therapy with L after 10+ years in mid-December (it was jungian depth therapy). I know I'm not done-done, I was just done for now. Anyway the more I see people post about sessions with art t's, the more curious I get, for when I'm ready to dive back in. I'm just wondering how art therapy differs from regular talk therapy? I did some creative stuff with L like sand trays mainly, but nothing I'd really call "art therapy". Do you just do art stuff? Is there talking? Just general curiosity-type wonderings. If anybody wants to share. Maybe I should just google it but I like hearing what people have to say from their own experiences. Thanks in advance!!

I'm guessing it varies based on the T, but with mine, we talk and do art together. Some sessions are just talking, depending on what comes up. Some sessions we do art together. She always gives me art assignments to do over the week (one goal of mine is to continue to do art), but no pressure if I don't get it done. I will bring in whatever art I made, and we talk about the process of how it was to make, what feelings it brought up, and she usually brings an insight or two about it that I wouldn't have noticed. I think with art therapy, part of it is the whole pattern of how the art relates to what has been going on for me, feelings-wise.

Feel free to ask any questions!

LOL... Not sure with all you've read about my art T if it taints this or not.
We can talk, make art or process art I have already done or have been working on. When I make art she asks what I am comfortable with her doing (watching, talking, making her own art, or sitting at her desk) The one time I made art with her I totally tuned her out which she noticed and commented on. She has explained art therapy to me as she was taught and the progression of the art and the media. I have a very hard time working on a project for just an hour and then packing it up and starting again another time so art making has been a challenge for us.
I have talked to her about three art projects that I had done and, for me, it was a comfortable way of bringing things up and processing them. Two of the projects were done specifically for awesome T before I started trying to work with art T. She was really good at walking through those with me, not making assumptions and helping me open up about them. all three are pretty intense. The third one was about where I was at with awesome T and it felt too vulnerable to share with him so I shared it with her first. Honestly those are the best sessions she and I have had. She commented that art was something I was able to use to really communicate what I was experiencing.
I also did art "therapy" in a day program and it was totally stupid. we made recycled paper and used a die cutting machine to cut out shapes and stuff to make cards. dumb. dumb. dumb. The woman in charge of it didn't have a clue and we never talked about anything. so... like everything else in therapy I think it comes down to finding the right T.
From what I have read of your posts I think it would be a really good option for you, especially if you found a T you could connect well with.
And, like velcro said feel free to ask questions. I can articulate things better with a question. I know things have not gone well between art T and I but I think it is just personality not the type of treatment.

Art therapy for me was a combination of talking, drawing, sculpting, some arts n crafts, lots of coloring and a lot of emotional processing and acceptance. I think each art therapist may approach things differently. My T was not a specialist in art therapy but suggested art as a way for me to control ptsd flashbacks and triggers. I did a lot of drawing and clay sculpting in session while talking. About 2 years into using art, I was really struggling with a few memories and processing my emotions, mostly anger. We switched to "guided coloring" and using my colored pictures as visual grounding options during ptsd flashbacks. I would color the same picture while experiencing different emotions or while focusing on what I wanted to feel in a given situation.
I'm not sure if the talking or the art helped me the most. I only know that I wouldn't be the stronger, more stable person I am today without it. Having art in session was enough of a distraction to prevent a ptsd triggered episode, but not so much of a distraction that I couldn't focus on dealing with my emotions.
Good luck with whatever you choose. I hope my experience helps you.

Thank you all so much! I appreciate it. I'm going to read through some profiles of art t's after work today and am hoping after I do that I'll have some more questions. I'm not ready to jump back in just yet, it will be awhile probably, but I wanna have a good idea of what I'm getting into before I jump this time. I had no clue what I was in for with a jungian therapist when I started with L - ha - so I want to be more informed this time around.


When I would do sand trays with L we wouldn't talk while I was doing them - other than maybe she'd verbalize a reaction to how I placed some figure or other in the sand like go "Hmmm" or "oooh" or something. We always waited until after I was done, then she would ask me if I wanted to name it, then we would talk about it.


Thanks again. I'll come back to this later today gotta log onto work now.

This lady has a good channel on youtube- you can explore on your own too. Personally think it would be great for you.

Thirsty For Art - YouTube

I too have been intrigued by this and have been looking for a 'creative therapist' myself Artie, so thank you for asking the questions. I think it's definitely something worth exploring. I use a lot of art to process my emotions when I have them and when I have the inclination to use them.

I'm watching the video Lemon and see she's crocheting! Cool.

I just read a profile of one here in town and the first thing her profile talks about is how she works with women who have big emotions. Um, hello.


But, holy crap is she expensive!!! $300 for 80 minute sessions. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. I shall keep reading.

Wow, that is expensive. Yikes.

Wow! $300! Yikes! I thought the one I see was expensive given her lack of experience. I like the idea of a longer session for art though. I don’t think I could be in a room that long with art T but it would be nice if I could with awesome T.
I like that you found someone that doesn’t crocheting! One of the challenges I have with art T is she gets frustrated that my preferred media are not “messy enough”… she seems to be biased towards paint. Right now I am working a lot with fabric. So… knowing that they like or are at least open to working in something you like seems to be a plus.

haha last night I dreamed that I was seeing a new t and there were all kinds of red flags and unprofessional stuff going on so I was like no. A clarification from the universe that it's truly not time to dive back in yet, eh?


I'm going to keep researching t's but won't be calling any anytime soon.

you will know when it is right. Then the challenge is trusting yourself!

art therapy is just doing something that you enjoy in arts and crafts activities. All therapists here in the USA incorporate the use of art work in therapy sessions if their clients want to do so. it doesnt matter if you are doing CBT or any other kind of therapy work.

what it is, is you pick something to do (painting, drawing, coloring, chalk
or coal sketching, sculpting, sand tray drawings and creating, diaroma's mosaics, tile, wood working what ever )

The key is to express yourself and your thoughts, wishes, dreams and problems in some form of tangible piece of art.

if doing art work during or part of therapy theres an explain or verbalize to your therapist what you made, why, how, what it means to you and what you learned about yourself in the process of creating that work of art.

I enjoy painting with oil pastel, acrylics, finger painting, and other mediums. sketching, tile, knitting and crocheting and sculpting / clay work during my therapy sessions. we plan ahead which type of art work so that we have the appropriate equipment and supplies and aprons if needed. then we do the art activity. then discuss it. sometimes discussing it as we go along.

think of art therapy like taking an art class. you are learning how to express yourself by using arts and crafts activities to do so. then doing session of talking about that piece of art you created, what you learned about your self and how you felt and experienced while doing it.

thanks amandalouise. i could have brought crochet in with me to sessions, but I never did. I was afraid I'd be too distracted by it I guess. I'm really intrigued by this and hopefully by the time I'm ready to jump back in, I'll have found an art t that i can afford.