The Impact Of Art On Mental Health

If you are struggling with poor mental health or a diagnosable mental health condition, such as depression, an anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or OCD, mental health professionals have a wide range of different treatment options they can use to help you recover and manage your mental health moving forward. These options include a variety of evidence-based resources like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), exposure therapy, mindfulness, meditation, and FDA-approved medications like antidepressants or antipsychotics. 

But there is another powerful treatment option that many people find surprising when presented to them as part of a formal mental health treatment program: art therapy. 

In fact, evidence has been mounting for decades that shows that art not only plays an important role in maintaining one’s mental health from day-to-day and year-to-year, but also can be an important part of mental health treatment for both children and adult patients dealing with a wide variety of different challenges. This has led art therapy to be increasingly incorporated into counseling and therapy sessions, mental health treatment programs, and addiction treatment programs of all kinds.

People And Art

Art has been defined in a wide variety of different ways throughout human history. Some of these definitions consider art to be the process of creating meaning beyond simple language, or a unique product that stimulates an emotional response. Others characterize art as any expression of imagination and skill. Still others view art as the fundamental creative process of self-expression, whether or not the final product manifests beauty or if there even is a final product at all. 

Ultimately, art is all of this and more. It is a human activity dating back to prehistoric times (cave paintings, for instance) that expresses how we see the world and how we see ourselves. And art, no matter what form it may take, has the potential to provide tremendous benefits for those who practice it. 

The study of these benefits, and the overall changes in brain function that take place during creative or artistic activity, are known as neuroaesthetics, a recent and interesting branch of scientific research with profound implications for daily life and mental health treatment alike. 

Art And Mental Health Treatment

According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy uses “active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship” to “enrich the lives of individuals, families, and communities.” 

During an art therapy session, participants (either individuals or groups) are guided through some form of artistic expression, usually drawing, coloring, collage, painting, or sculpture, though art therapy may also include many other different forms of art like dancing, poetry, music, woodworking, and more. Participants will also be given counseling during this session, discussing the challenges they are facing and reviewing both the process they used to make the art and the result of their art in a therapeutic light.  

This interactive process can help participants in a variety of different ways during treatment, as it encourages the brain to work in new ways and can assist in expressing hidden or difficult emotions, thoughts, and beliefs by way of the imagination.

Art and mental health are linked in many other ways, with the process of making art known to provide additional short-term benefits, including improvements in:

• serotonin levels (increased)
• cortisol levels (decreased)
• brain activity
• emotional processing
• concentration and learning
• self-esteem
• stress and stress management
• communication ability
• hopefulness and optimism

These benefits, in turn, can help support and improve the effectiveness of other treatment options including different forms of psychotherapy and treatment using various medications. 

Art therapy has been widely demonstrated to be effective in treating people of all ages, with both adults and young children often using art and creative play therapies in regular therapy sessions and intensive mental health treatment programs. It has helped veterans process the trauma of war, children cope with losses they cannot fully comprehend, troubled teens return to their home and school environment, sexual assault survivors overcome PTSD and depression, and more. 

How Art Helps Sustain Long-Term Mental Health 

Art has found an important place in mental health treatment programs, but it can also lend benefits to people at any stage of life with or without specific mental health issues. In fact, finding some form of art that you enjoy and working on it long-term can be an important part of mental health maintenance, and is often recommended as a key component of intentional self-care. Research has even shown that Americans with better mental health tend to spend more time in creative pursuits than those with poor mental health. 

Just some of the known benefits of practicing art, in any form, as a regular hobby include the following.

Entering A ‘Flow State’

When a person focuses on art without distractions, they can “lose themselves” in the process, entering a mental state called flow in which the mind becomes fully engaged. Flow is pleasurable and rewarding, and has a strong connection with mindfulness, a meditation-like practice in which a person learns to be fully present in the moment, aware of their own thoughts and state of mind without judgment. 

Spending time in a flow state stretches and quiets the mind, changing how the brain activates and improving neurochemical markers and neuroplasticity. 

Expressing And Processing Stress And Pain

Sometimes, “crying it out” can be renewing. Crying brings out unresolved negative emotions and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, releasing endorphins and restoring one’s neurochemical balance. 

The process of creating art can accomplish something similar, providing a safe and productive outlet for grief, stress, pain, frustration, and anger so that they don’t fester under the surface, unresolved. Artistic options like music may also help distract you during periods of mildly heightened pain or anxiety, giving your body and mind a valuable period of rest. 

Spurring Self-Improvement

The world is full of remarkable and talented artists, which can make it intimidating or even discouraging to start out as a beginner. But the longer you stick with your art, the better you will get. 

This improvement over time can offer an important source of self-esteem for anyone, and may benefit your self-image as your skills and talents sharpen and develop. What might begin as an outlet or therapeutic practice may even develop into a life-long passion that moves and inspires others. 

Providing Mood Enhancement

Art can sometimes be an outlet for pain, but it is also often a source of tremendous joy. Depending on your interests, you may find that diving into jars of paint, putting words down on paper, raising your voice in song, or making music with a piano or guitar is deeply fulfilling and positive. You probably already have artistic interests you developed in the past and that you miss if you haven’t kept up with them. 

Going back and spending regular time engaged in your passion will naturally tend to improve your mood, flavoring your life with a specific kind of joy and optimism that only creativity and self-expression can provide. 

Different Types Of Art

There is no better time than today to begin your own journey with the arts. And you have more options than you might think to explore. 

Art can take a wide variety of different forms, including the following:

• writing: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, songwriting, journaling, etc.
• visual arts: painting, drawing, sculpting, digital arts, comics, etc.
• decorative arts: woodworking, mosaics, interior design, landscaping, etc.
• performing arts: acting, dance, music performance or composition, etc.

Even simple things like coloring in a coloring book or trying out a new recipe for cooking or baking can provide artistic benefits. You don’t even have to be good at your art, or have anything like a good result when you are finished. Just let yourself enjoy the process and the rest will take care of itself. 

Mental Health Treatment At Ohio Recovery Center

At Ohio Recovery Center, our staff understands the value of the arts for mental health recovery and includes art therapy and art practices as options in our comprehensive treatment programs.

For example, our Frontline Pathway to Recovery program, serving veterans and first responders, includes expressive therapies that focus on art, movement, sound/tone, and music, which can aid in processing trauma and other difficult experiences common to these professions. 

If you would like to learn more about ORC and our short-term residential mental health treatment services, dual diagnosis treatment services, and addiction treatment services, please reach out to us today.