FAQs About Art Therapy in Austin, TX
So you’ve heard of art therapy, but you wonder exactly what it is and how exactly it can help you. Given that the profession of art therapy is still pretty young compared to the profession of traditional talk therapy, it’s normal to have questions about it.
Just to be clear, art therapy doesn’t fix bad art, art therapy doesn’t restore old masterpieces to their original condition, art therapy doesn’t help artists finish incomplete work, art therapy isn’t just for artists, and art therapy isn’t just for guys named Art! (Yeah, I’ve heard all those erroneous assumptions.)
Let’s read on to learn more about what art therapy REALLY is and how it can help you with anxiety, depression, stress, grief, trauma, and burnout. I provide art therapy in Austin, TX and am happy to help you decide whether art therapy is right for you!
Am I a Candidate for Art Therapy in Austin, TX if I’m Bad at Art?
Some people cringe at the idea of “art”. They might be ok looking at it, but they’re uncomfortable about actually creating it themselves. This usually has to do with a bad art teacher somewhere in elementary school.
Generally speaking, kids are eager to create, as it helps them manage their experiences while they learn more about themselves and the world around them. A critical and rejecting art teacher is a pivotal encounter with shame and vulnerability for many kids. Those who are fortunate enough to have good art teachers through elementary school eventually become old enough to start comparing themselves to others, and somehow many judge their own artistic efforts as “not good enough”, so they stop making art.
It's pretty safe to say that the age at which a person stopped making art is also an age at which significant shame and vulnerability crept into the picture. That’s why many adults are wary of making art and are usually disappointed with any of their brave efforts to create; their art looks much like it did back when they stopped. This is simply due to the fact that they never continued to develop their visual language!
Please rest assured that art therapy isn’t for the artistically sophisticated. It’s for all of us, and if you identify with shame and vulnerability, art therapy may be just what you need to help you understand where those feelings came from so you can heal that wounded part of yourself and be more comfortable in your own skin.
I often hear new clients tell me they can’t even draw a straight line, and I say, “Good!” Human beings aren’t meant to draw straight lines without assistance from a ruler or some other straight-edged tool.
As for stick figures, did you know children don’t naturally draw them? It’s only when they’ve learned shame and vulnerability about their art that they look around to see what people older than themselves are drawing, so kids get their stick figures from adults. The stick figures I see in art therapy are cause for compassion and understanding.
What Kinds of Art Materials Get Used During Art Therapy in Austin, TX?
Usually art therapy with someone who meets state licensing requirements (click here for an article to help you find a licensed professional counselor with a specialization in art therapy) will involve a wide variety of materials rather than just a few. This is because the materials interact with your hands, which are wired to your nervous system. Some materials are known to support emotional containment while others are more conducive to emotional expression.
Art therapy clients typically need to balance containment and expression in very individualized ways, so there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach (and thus no one-material-fits-all approach). Art therapy in Austin, TX may involve traditional art materials—the kinds you think of when you think of “art”—and/or nontraditional materials like found objects or elements from nature.
I teach the clients I work with how to look at art materials as various kinds of medicine. Sometimes this means learning to make peace with the kinds of materials they avoid for sensory or affective reasons, as those likely pose the greatest opportunity for growth. And then we can expand the learning to include other elements in life, as the art materials may metaphorically relate to life experiences that need to be processed and resolved at long last.
Can an Art Therapist in Austin, TX Read My Mind?
As an art therapist in Austin, TX, I can solidly say that art therapy isn’t about mindreading. Although that sounds exotic, how would mindreading be therapeutic?
Art therapists have been trained to “read” visual language, but this is different from knowing what a person is thinking. It’s somewhat like radiology, where the radiologist has been trained to read x-rays but doesn’t necessarily know WHY they see what they’re seeing. Being able to identify a fracture isn’t the same thing as identifying what caused the fracture.
I read client artwork to look for indicators of nervous system activity at kinesthetic, sensory, perceptual, affective, cognitive, and symbolic gradients of functioning. Finding the patterns among these aspects gives me information about how to best support the client in front of me. Monitoring the patterns lets me know how treatment is going overall; sudden shifts may mean it’s time to re-evaluate our game plan, while gradual shifts usually mean that treatment is unfolding optimally.
Will I Be Scared by the Images I Create During Art Therapy in Austin, TX?
Some people are afraid that they’ll be frightened or disturbed by their own art images. If you’re working with an art therapist in Austin, TX who has been vetted by the state, there’s a limited likelihood that this will occur.
An appropriately educated and trained art therapist will know how to guide you through a therapeutic process that expands your psychological comfort zone without putting you at risk for emotional flooding or retraumatization. That’s why it’s so important to work with a legitimate art therapist rather than a talk therapist who uses art in their sessions.
Your images should increasingly resonate with you as you shed the layers of psychological stuckness and unveil the YOU you were meant to be. Emotionally difficult content will arise as you are ready to deal with it, so the process happens at your own pace. And NO, you don’t have to talk about it!
I support clients in making gradual shifts toward wholeness through a titrated approach that combines art materials and methods in a way that honors client strengths throughout the therapeutic process. This bolsters their capacity to expand into areas of challenge without inviting a trauma response. Plus a client’s art products provide them with concrete evidence of the progress they’ve made toward their psychological goals; the images combine to create a pictorial success story.
What Is the Ultimate Goal of Art Therapy in Austin, TX?
The goal of art therapy in Austin, TX is the same as the goal of psychotherapy in general: an integrated you who can actualize harmony and flow between your inner experience and outer reality. That might seem like a tall order if you think of art therapy in terms of those slightly hilarious assumptions I mentioned at the beginning of this article, but having an accurate understanding of and appreciation for art therapy is what’ll help you realize how art therapy can help you move beyond anxiety, depression, stress, grief, trauma, and burnout.
The pictorial success stories created by the clients I work with are tangible evidence of their route toward graduation from therapy. We’re able to review the images as a means of remembering their journey and celebrating all the gains that were made as they learned to balance internal and external forces and be ready for their next exciting adventure in life. Plus they can keep their images to remind them of their capacity for success whenever doubt creeps in!
Get a Free Therapy Consultation in Austin, TX
Are you ready to live a life without anxiety, depression, and stress? Contact me for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation to learn how online art therapy can help you create the life you want to live; having the right plan with the right therapist is important, so let’s see if we’re a good fit for each other!
Need more info about how art therapy works in general? See my About page for clarification of why it’s so important to bring your eyes, hands, and physical self into the treatment process for transforming the dark shadows of overwhelm, unhappiness, and burnout. Isn’t it time for you to live in the light?