ARTICLES / General /Art
Therapy Q&A /
Other ArticlesBy Diane Alvy, M.A., ATR-BC
Q. During the week, I drop my husband off at an
adult day care center and they offer regular art classes
and art therapy groups. What are the differences between
regular art classes and art therapy groups for people
with cognitive impairments?
A. Regular art classes focus on the individual’s
interaction with the art media and the finished art
product. Art therapy groups are aimed to activate the
language center of the brain. The implementation of
using art therapeutically includes several goals which
include facilitating language expression, memory
retrieval and socialization.
Q. My father is unable to initiate conversation
anymore, and his ability to verbalize has declined
dramatically during the past year. I can tell this
really bothers him a lot. Is there a way I can use art
therapeutically to facilitate communicate between us?
A. Yes, definitely! What I do to help facilitate
language expression is to first see there are no other
distractions in the room. I provide a quiet environment
and begin by having several pre-cut images from
magazines that depict several things such as food,
animals, sports, facial expressions, objects, etc. for
the person to view. I tell the individual I’m going to
show them pictures and I ask them to choose images that
they like. I usually have the person choose no more than
four. I have a large piece of paper and ask them where
on the paper they would like the pictures glued. I
proceed by asking them what it is about the images they
like, or what is happening in the picture. Through this
activity, conversations surface. At this point, I
usually try to guess the words they may be trying to
convey.
I worked with a man that chose an image of a basketball
player trying to get a basketball into a hoop. When I
asked the man about the picture, he said the picture was
about the basketball player’s ‘worries’ of not being
able to get the ball into the hoop. At this point, I
began to ask him about his ‘worries’ about not doing
things. Apparently this hit home because he shared his
concerns about not being able to do the things he use to
do, such as being able to express himself verbally and
being independent. The man felt relieved being able to
share what was enormously difficult to express.
Q.
How does art therapy work for individuals
with dementia?
A. Art therapy works by actively engaging both
sides of the brain. The brain has two hemispheres which
work in conjunction: left and right. The right side
receives information while the left side finds the words
to describe the sensory information. Because there are
vascular changes in persons with dementia, language
areas become less functional. The therapeutic use of art
accesses the language areas (the left side) by prompting
the other side (right side) of the brain. Older
individuals that have lost the ability to communicate
feel isolated and self-conscious. Using art
therapeutically provides a non-threatening activity
which makes it easier for individuals to access and
express language.
Q.
What is art therapy and what are the
educational requirements to become an art therapist?
A. Art therapy is the therapeutic use of art,
within a professional relationship, by people who
experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living, and
by people who seek personal development. Art therapists
are professionals trained both in therapy and in art. In
the state of California, entry into the profession is at
the Master’s level. The American Art Therapy Association
sets the curriculum and educational standards to qualify
as an art therapist.
Printable Version
