Art is the result of expression

What is art therapy in the modern day?

Art therapy: A creative and Expressive process created by the Indian journal of Positive Psychology in 2014, describes the beginnings of art therapy in the mid 20th century in both the Uk and United States. In Britain there are two conflicting ideas for how art therapy started, one pertains to the calming aspects of creating art in general and the other is attributed to the speedy recovery from tuberculosis. Though both definitions are significantly outdated.

Art therapy is creating art with the intent of helping one along through their journey. Created by a licensed therapist with the goal of assisting one in their mental health struggles.  Art therapy is most useful for those with people with trauma or those with anxiety issues. It’s a purposeful expression, an expression where the patient can visually see their progress. A key component for art therapy to work is the creation of art.

For art to work there must be some type of meaning attached to it. Art has this meaning attached to it because art is important, take ancient peoples, they used their art to depict gods, even more ancient people used art to document surroundings. If a certain way of life is important to a civilization then we should see some representation of that in the forms of art. If someone is looking to improve their life through art therapy then isn’t it important to gather a baseline look into their life? To have a sort of jumping off point.

So we have to account for what modern life values. A recent example of what the average American values is seen in the craze of the stanley cup. A cup, a resource used to ensure people get their proper intake of water, can turn into such a craze that there are now ways to decorate a cup. And some people have multiple of these cups that are also intended to reduce waste. This example speaks to a modern way people express themselves, that Americans live in a culture that is so deeply rooted in individualism that we can get lost in it. If everyone is different in the same ways then are we really different? 

This in itself could be grounds to receive art therapy. The ever constant task of trying to live a life both dependent and independent of social pressures, and feeling like failing to live up to this unrealistic standard is a moral failing. This is not to say that everyone who was swept up in the stanley cup wave needs art therapy, this example is just one aspect of modern life that may bleed into culture and behaviors that could be beneficial to work through in art therapy. Perhaps creating a mug with the feelings of individualism with an art therapist could be a small victory in a young person’s overall therapy journey. A small hurdle in deconstructing how negative social pressure has affected how a person interacts with the people around them. 

References

Bellaiche, Lucas, Rohin Shahi, Martin Harry Turpin, Anya Ragnhildstveit, Shawn Sprockett, Nathaniel Barr, Alexander Christensen, and Paul Seli. “Humans versus AI: Whether and Why We Prefer Human-Created Compared to AI-Created Artwork – Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications.” SpringerOpen, July 4, 2023. https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-023-00499-6. 

Lin-Fisher, Betty, and Bailey Schulz. “What Is so Special about Stanley Cups? The Psychology behind the Year’s Thirstiest Obsession.” USA Today, January 31, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2024/01/13/stanley-cup-obsession-explained/72176008007/. 

Schukei, Abby. “Digital vs. Traditional Art: Is One Better than the Other?” The Art of Education University, March 27, 2023. https://theartofeducation.edu/2019/05/digital-vs-traditional-art-is-one-better-than-the-other/.