Friday, April 25, 2014

Some Ideas For Expressive Therapies

By Essie Osborn


Art not only is for pleasure but sometimes it can also be used as a form of therapy in order to open up the mind and even heal some part of it. Expressive therapies by using art are commonly used by a lot of therapies in order to make a person feel better or make him more relaxed with himself. For those who are interested in this type of therapy, here are some ideas that many therapists would use.

If one would watch some crime scene investigation movies, there would be times wherein the investigator would talk to children to get them to talk about crimes that they witnessed. There would be times that they would make use of puppets and also let the kids use these puppets. This is one of the most effective ways to get bottled up children to talk as it would give them an alter ego.

Of course in this type of session, the therapist would be providing the participant with a bunch of art materials that the participant can use. It is actually up to the participant on how he would want to customize his little puppet. Of course he can make it as beautiful as he wants or he can make it as simple as he would want.

Now there would sometimes be children or even teens that do not know anything about themselves. When this would happen, the therapist may resort to the paper bag therapy form in order to make them see themselves in a clearer light. Now this will actually help them find out more about their identity and will help them be able to find their own purpose in life.

The very first step here would be to get a paper bag and draw a self portrait on one side of the bag. The second step would be to draw a gravestone on the other side and write down all the fears that one would possess. The last step would be to put some items inside of the paper bag that would represent his own personality and his own characteristics.

Drama and theater art is extremely effective in order for participants to release all of their pent up frustrations on life. Now by taking the role and personality of a whole new character, they can go into a different world and see things in a different light. They will be seeing things in a perspective other than their own which makes them more empathetic.

Now a very good way for the therapist to know what is in the mind of the participant is to ask the participant to draw himself. From there, the therapist and the participant will discuss what the participant sees after drawing the picture. This can also be used as a way for the participant to let out some thoughts.

Now if one would want to go into this field of therapy, here are some of the things he must take note of. Now these are some of the most common therapy forms that he will be using. Of course there are more but these are by far some of the most effective.




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