The Top 4 Myths About Art Therapy in Austin, TX

As someone who provides art therapy in Austin, TX, I’ve heard all kinds of strange takes on what people think art therapy is and how it can or can’t help.  That means I’ve had to do a good deal of myth-busting in my time. Before you entertain any more of those fairy tales yourself, you might want to read on if you’re sitting on the fence about working with an art therapist to help you through anxiety, depression, stress, grief, trauma, or burnout.

Myth #1: Art Therapy in Austin, TX is Only for Artists

First of all, art therapy is not just for artists.  It’s for everyone.  And actually, it’s a little hard for professional artists to take what they do for a living (make art) and engage in a similar but substantially different process for looking at their own psychology. 

Imagine—if what you do for a living could be brought into a therapist’s office, how would you feel about doing it in front of a therapist? That’s why art therapy is not just for artists.  It’s easier for people with less of an artist identity to get the hang of engaging in a creative process that makes the invisible visible.

The focus is not on aesthetics and the finished product; it’s on action and the formative process.  That’s where thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that might have been hiding in the darkness come to light, and making them visible provides an opportunity to adjust them so they can be reincorporated back into the nervous system in a way that optimizes psychological wellbeing.

I tell art therapy clients that one goal of treatment is to think of themselves differently—so they practice by thinking of themselves as artists.  What do artists do?  Create.

In essence, all therapy clients are creating a better outcome for themselves.  I ask the clients I work with to sign, date, and title their art pieces, just like artists do.  It may feel a little foreign at first, but it’s all part of expanding the way they think about themselves.

Myth #2: Art Therapy in Austin, TX is Only for Kids

Then there’s the idea that art therapy is just for kids.  Most people stop making art before their teen years, suddenly convinced that they’re not “good” at it.  What’s really going on behind the scenes is that they became old enough to compare their work to someone else’s and realized that there are other ways to represent their experience of the world.

This can be daunting if they’ve already been shamed for being “less than” or “too different” from what was expected—especially if this shaming involved art.  So people abandon artmaking, telling themselves it’s not important anyhow, and they never advance their skill set.

Naturally, they still draw the way they did when they stopped making art.  Their efforts remind them of the vulnerability of childhood, so they attribute artmaking to a childhood thing and think art therapy is just for kids.

Art therapy is for all ages.  It’s not even really about art—it’s about creating internal shifts and enlisting the support of a person’s eyes and hands (think: lots of nervous system involvement!) for integrating physical, emotional, and intellectual systems and establishing balance between internal experience and the outer world.  This is definitely not child’s play, though children can benefit just as well as adults.

When I see stick figures and other supposed elements from childhood (kids don’t naturally draw stick figures—they copy them from people older than themselves once they first feel shame about their art), I know that these are a client’s way of distancing themselves from feelings of vulnerability.  I handle these elements—and the client behind them—with care.  Recovering from shame may be part of our work together, and since shame is not a verbal experience within the body, it requires a nonverbal approach such as art therapy to restore dignity to the wounded parts of the nervous system.   

Myth #3: An Art Therapist in Austin, TX Can Read Your Mind

Then there’s the myth of art therapists being able to read minds.  I’ve never heard of an art therapist in Austin, TX being able to read minds.  In fact, I’ve never heard of any art therapist being able to read minds at all.

Your artwork does not spill the beans about what you’re thinking or anything even close—unless you overtly create art to illustrate what’s on your mind.  Otherwise, the art therapist can’t analyze you through your visual products.

YOU are the expert on the meaning and significance of what you create in art therapy.  The art therapist has been trained to read visual language, much like a radiologist has been trained to read X-rays.  But reading an X-ray isn’t the same thing as understanding the cause of what’s in the image.

I help art therapy clients see what I’m seeing in the patterns of their overall visual language—this allows us to assess progress together.  Beyond that, watching for patterns is much like listening to patterns of speech and getting information from things like pitch, tone, speed, etc.  It doesn’t take a professional degree to recognize when someone’s verbal output is low, gentle, and slow, for example.

Anyone who is curious enough can look at their own visual output for clues about patterns that emerge across multiple pieces of art.  But when it comes to the meaning and significance of an image, the clients I work with are the experts, not me.    

Myth #4: Art Therapy in Austin, TX Isn’t Real Therapy

Last but not least, I want to address the myth that art therapy isn’t real therapy.  I’ve heard this over and over again in my career, mostly from other mental health professionals who haven’t thought about it much.

If talk therapy is real, and just about everybody can talk, then how sophisticated can it actually be?  The answer is VERY.

So consider that and ask how sophisticated it is it to facilitate assessment and treatment in a way that goes where words can’t.  The answer is VERY.

We think in images, not words.  Art therapy gets at those images and utilizes somatosensory processing (through the hands) and visual perception (through the eyes) to get the job done.  By comparison, talk therapy doesn’t involve many body parts.  And body parts are real.

I have board-certification status in art therapy and the state license that allows me to hold myself out as an art therapist in Texas, and I’ve helped hundreds of people through art therapy.  When I encounter a client who doubts that our work together can be taken seriously, it’s usually because another mental health professional who’s not an art therapist has planted that doubt in their head.

Fortunately, times are changing, and members of the public are often educating mental health professionals that art therapy has legitimacy and is sometimes preferred over talking about what’s inside.  Advocacy is still needed, but as of this writing, 13 states have a stand-alone art therapy license and more states are likely to follow in the near future!  Art therapy is real therapy, and I help the few-and-far-between doubting clients understand that art therapy is as real as the images that arise when they think about the past, present, and future.   

Get a Free Therapy Consultation in Austin, TX

Are you ready to move beyond myths and create a reality you love living in? Contact me for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation. We’ll explore your goals and take a look at how online art therapy can help you move toward them and transform the obstacles that are in the way. It’s important to find the right plan with the right therapist, so let’s see if we’re a good fit!

Need a little more info about how I work? See my About page for clarification of art therapy’s role in shedding the weight of anxiety, depression, and stress. Isn’t it time for you to live lightly?