What Is Art Therapy in Austin, TX and How Does it Work?
If you’re wondering what art therapy is and how it works, you’re in good company. The profession was organized in the United States in 1969, but it continues to be a little fish in the larger sea of mental health professions. That doesn’t mean it lacks research and robustness–and it doesn’t mean art therapy lacks the ability to help you reach your goals!
Art Therapy in Austin, TX Helps You in Ways that Go Beyond Words
If you’ve tried talk therapy before, you know that sometimes the language-oriented nature of it can serve as a barrier. Your experiences can be difficult to put into words, and words can also be used to distance yourself from your experiences. Even if you’ve never tried talk therapy, you can probably relate to these things happening in your conversations with others.
Words Actually Come from Nonverbal Processes in Your Brain
Do you know where words even come from? Adults generally don't wonder about this. But the words you use to describe–and distance yourself from–your experiences actually arise out of processes in your brain that are nonverbal and independent of conscious thought.
Most of Your Mental Activity Lies Beneath Your Awareness
Yup–the nonverbal and the nonconscious can eventually become the verbal and the conscious if conditions are right, though for the most part only a small percentage of mental activity meets those conditions. The rest is swimming around in your nervous system without your awareness, and so you can’t really talk about it. Most mental activity isn't about words; it’s about images and impressions that sometimes float into your awareness, like those moments when you suddenly realize it’s time to feed your cat.
Art Therapy Works with Mental Images and Impressions
Art therapy in Austin, TX makes good on these images and impressions and can change them before they become conscious to you, before you can attach words to them. So it’s not about helping you reach your goals through beneficial words; it’s about helping you reach your goals through beneficial shifts in those images and impressions.
Art Therapy in Austin, TX Brings Your Body into the Healing Process
How does art therapy do this? The short answer involves your eyes and your hands, as art therapy actively engages your nervous system through visual perception and somatosensory processing. The long answer involves the art therapist’s knowledge base and skill set!
What Can Art Therapy in Austin, TX Help You With?
Art therapy that’s provided by an appropriately trained and credentialed art therapist can be an ethical and effective means of helping you do things like:
manage your energy and tension levels
improve your ability to focus and self-soothe
respect your boundaries and the boundaries of others
recognize your feelings and the feelings of others
strengthen your ability to think clearly and solve problems
develop your intuition and self-awareness
balance the needs of your inner world and the demands of the outer world
Art therapy can even be facilitated online! This decreases the distance between client and therapist, maximizing accessibility for those who don't live within easy reach of an art therapist.
Learn More About How Art Therapy Can Keep Your World Afloat
For more information about art therapy in Austin, TX, please see these blog posts that I’ve written with your curiosity in mind:
How to Know if You Should Work with an Art Therapist vs. a Talk Therapist
How to Use Your Out-of-Network Insurance Benefits for Covering Art Therapy
Check Out These Other Art Therapy Resources
You can also look up information in the following places:
American Art Therapy Association
Art Therapy Credentials Board
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs/Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education
Are You Ready to Explore How Online Art Therapy in Austin, TX Can Help You?
If you’d like to learn more about how art therapy can help you reach your goals and create a better outcome for yourself, please contact me for a complimentary 15-minute consultation!