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In group settings, people going through addiction treatment together are able to create a fellowship and become closer to one another. Art therapy is also beneficial for mental health treatment in substance use disorders. Studies have found that art therapy can reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and even PTSD. It helps people express their emotions without relying on substances or depending on other people’s opinions. Art activities are a safe place where individuals can practice self-reflection and gain insight into their feelings and behaviors. Individuals battling substance use disorders have the luxury of finding inpatient treatment centers that offer innovative practices.
This session also allows the therapist to get to know their client and assess their therapeutic needs. Containment occurs in a specific branch of art therapy called mandala art therapy, which encourages a client to confine their drawings to a circle. Scholars believe that art therapy may be effective because the act of creating art strengthens neurological connections in the brain. Naumberg believed that art therapy could promote healing by helping people uncover repressed thoughts and emotions while providing a framework to discuss them. Beginning with her 1947 book, Studies of the “Free” Expression of Behavior Problem Children as a Means of Diagnosis and Therapy, she wrote several books on the topic. And this is why so many people quit therapy and end up abusing drugs or alcohol not long after – because they can’t quite handle processing these emotions.
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Art therapy for drug and alcohol addiction recovery is an excellent tool to help individuals connect with their emotional challenges, explore their feelings, and reconcile emotional conflicts they have been suffering from. How Art Therapy Can Help in Addiction Recovery Many addicts suffer from emotional trauma, which is often the reason for their substance abuse. Data for this study were collected between June 2009 and January 2012 from a national sample of SUD treatment organizations.
Additionally, other evidence shows that learning techniques for mood and emotion regulation can be beneficial for treating SUDs because they can reduce cravings. Generally, people view art therapy as a therapeutic method to use with other forms of therapy. This is especially true for substance use disorders (SUDs), where ongoing recovery is so important. But art therapy can be a fun and powerful outlet for you to experience your emotions and manage your feelings in a safe and healthy way.
Example: Art Therapy in Addiction
Art can also be helpful in counseling for people who struggle with anger or have been the victim of trauma.[1] Whenever memories or emotions are too painful to confront in a direct manner, artistic expression can help. Another benefit of art therapy is its ability to help therapists track a participant’s progress. Additional research suggests that art therapy can reduce anxiety in participants by lowering their levels of cortisol. This effect could help reduce the discomfort and stress that often accompanies withdrawal.
Participants don’t need to have artistic talent — they need to open themselves up to the experience and engage to benefit from this practice. During your recovery, you may find it difficult to communicate your story or verbalize how you feel. Unfortunately, many addiction programs focus on talking about what you’ve been through. When the words don’t come easily, art therapy for substance abuse can help bridge the gap between you and others, giving you a nonverbal way to find healing. While traditional psychotherapies require patients to discuss topics with their therapist or peers, art therapy is a more personal and expressive approach that allows patients to work through their challenges in a nonverbal manner.
The Benefits of Art Therapy for Addiction Treatment
Overall, 36.8% of programs used art therapy and 14.7% used music therapy, with 11.7% using both (not shown). We report use of two other forms of CAM – hypnotherapy and acupuncture – to offer a broader perspective on CAM use and to explain our focus on art and music therapy. Just 3.3% of programs https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-art-therapy-can-help-in-addiction-recovery/ offered hypnotherapy and 8% offered acupuncture to their patients. The small number of programs using the latter two forms of alternative therapies precluded further multivariate analyses. The mean for percent female patients and percent adolescent patients was 34.9% and 10.8%, respectively.
- We believe in tailoring our treatment to the unique needs of each patient who comes to us for help.
- Clients learn how to “stay in the now” and process their feelings (positive and negative) without the use of alcohol or other drugs.
- The Mandala Healing Center is in-network with a large number of insurance providers.
The client is instructed to do a drawing that describes the current situation or event that led them to begin the recovery process. These different art projects are used to help clients in recovery by making specific situations out of different mediums. For example, you might be asked to draw a picture of your family or make a sculpture of your favorite place. Simply creating something beautiful (or not) provided a break from the usual routine of the school day and gave children a chance to let their creative juices flow.
