Painting mindscapes

Published March 29, 2015
People express their feelings through illustrations, http://healthguides.healthgrades.com
People express their feelings through illustrations, http://healthguides.healthgrades.com

For those unfamiliar with mental health, the word ‘therapy’ often conjures images of clients lying on a dark leather couch while staring at a slowly revolving ceiling fan, as they share their intimate thoughts with a bespectacled gentleman who scratches his grey beard as he grunts in an Austrian accent.

However, the reality is that therapy has evolved considerably since the days of Sigmund Freud, and even traditional therapy takes place in a considerably warmer environment than what is described above. For one, clients can take whatever seating position they are comfortable with as they engage with their therapist.

Of course, therapy has also branched out in terms of how it is delivered, and one of the more seemingly ‘unusual’ styles of therapy which is steadily gaining popularity across the world, including Pakistan, is art therapy.

As the name suggests, art therapy is conducted through the process of a client creating art under the observation of an art therapist. Here, artistic skills aren’t necessary, and the client’s artistic expression is considered as a form of communication with the therapist. This form of therapy is open to anyone, and can be conducted through any art form, whether it is drawing, clay-making, photography and the like.


When mental health professionals use art to address the psychological and emotional needs of people


Shazia Mohammed is one of the few qualified art therapists in Pakistan, and studied her craft at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute in Canada. Her passion for different forms of communication is what drew her to the field, “I was attracted to art as a means of self-expression and processing / understanding emotions because I felt that language is often limiting and carries very many ideas of how one ought to be or feel. Painting, drawing, sculpture or photography tries to express what is felt and sensed and is very particular to a person’s subjective experience. Also creating with the use of colour, dimensions, space and innovation can release energies that are sometimes blocked within and can cause pain or suffering.”

Expression through strokes and colour, http://www.health.wa.gov.au
Expression through strokes and colour, http://www.health.wa.gov.au

It isn’t a simple process though, and the art therapist must use their training to interpret the work of a client. Although art therapy is especially useful for those who have suffered from a traumatic event or are unable to communicate through traditional means due to physical impairment, the process is open to anyone, “Art therapy is for anyone who is inclined to use (visual) creative means to explore and experience their inner world. It promotes experimentation and discovery of a new range of perspectives — an enlivened way of thinking, feeling, being in the world which is closer to one’s authentic self. Children and adults, couples and families, can all benefit from art therapy. After having worked with children and families as well as adults who have anxiety or depression, I now work exclusively with couples and those aiming to improve their relationships — with parents, children, partners or with peers.”

Shazia shares an anecdote of a young client, “An eight-year-old boy comes in and creates a jungle scene, in which he is a scared fragile animal as well as a warrior and protector of his family. This process of telling and hearing his stories gradually enables him to loosen the grips of his fear that has caused him anxiety, increased his stubbornness and eased his refusal to take (learning) risks for fear of failure.”

She believes that she underestimates the power of creative self-expression, the use of play and experimentation as a way to free people from the bonds of their own thinking. “It’s my clients who come in and use art to create, to experiment, and discover, that continue to teach me about art therapy’s benefits. The stories we tell ourselves about our life, about others and about the world are often toxic and imbalanced,” Shazia said.


“Art therapy invites a person to express themselves through the use of colour, space and texture. It welcomes the imagination to flow freely, often revealing buried thoughts, emotions, impressions and experiences — which are often stored as images within us.


Emphasis is on the process, not the product, http://www.cognitivedynamics.org
Emphasis is on the process, not the product, http://www.cognitivedynamics.org

According to her, it is important to question, reflect, deconstruct and reconstruct any fixed ideas we have about life and living. “Art therapy is a means of helping us stay in the present moment, and see things as they are, rather than how we believe they are or ought to be” she added.

Shazia, who believes the scope of art therapy is ‘limitless’, elaborates further on the process, “Art therapy invites a person to express themselves through the use of colour, space and texture. It welcomes the imagination to flow freely, often revealing buried thoughts, emotions, impressions and experiences — which are often stored as images within us. An art therapist then guides the art-maker to freely associate thoughts and feelings to the expression. ... This process reveals, evokes and transforms fixed ideas or wounds that impair a person’s functioning; and it also very often inspires new perspectives, ways of seeing and perceiving, understanding and being that support enlivened living.”

She also clears some misconceptions about art therapy, and says that some people mistakenly believe that it is only for children or that its effectiveness depends entirely on the artistic skills of a client. For example, prisoners in Central Jail Faisalabad benefit greatly from art as a correctional activity. David Gussak, a professor of art therapy at The Florida State University explained in his international journal, The Arts in Psychotherapy, that studies show art therapy to be greatly beneficial to the ‘moods and locus of control’ of inmates.

An art therapy workshop in Senegal, http://en.wikipedia.org
An art therapy workshop in Senegal, http://en.wikipedia.org

Shazia adds, “Over the past eight years, in my experience, people in the mental health field have begun to see the usefulness of using non-verbal means of expression as a way to work with anxiety, anger, inner conflicts, depression, and even trauma. art therapy is recognised internationally as a modality for healing and growth — more now than ever before. Research supports the claim that art therapy with a qualified practitioner relieves pain and suffering, can ease discomfort and conflict, and inspire confidence and innovation, and inspired living.”

The unique nature of art therapy has found love with students of the field as well. Sumra Ahmed, a graduate in psychology has gained introspection while studying art therapy, “This profession allows an individual to be aware of one’s emotions, mental health, and physical health. I am able to be playful and do fun things to connect with people at different levels in my profession, which is something I had always looked for as a career. Having said that, within all the fun and games, art therapy — like any mental health profession — has a heavy dark aspect to it that requires the individual to be strong on many levels of consciousness. What makes art therapy unique from other mental healthcare practices is that a lot more can unfold through images than simply through verbal discourse [in traditional forms of therapy].”

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 29th, 2015

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