- Image by susie.c via Flickr
The practice of art therapy has been around for nearly sixty years and helps people to express themselves and their feelings through the use of the visual arts, such as painting, drawing, and sculpture. The general belief is that this form of self-expressions, first and foremost, helps people resolve problems and conflicts via an artistic channel. Art therapy also helps to reduce stress levels, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, as well as help develop and better interpersonal skills.
Many times, an art therapist will work as part of a team that includes doctors and other medical professionals when working with a patient who suffers from epilepsy. The visual arts don’t prevent seizures and other medical issues, but they do help lower stress levels, which then reduces the odds of the patient having stress-related seizures. Art therapy can be undertaken almost anywhere—at a hospital, in a school, even at a patient’s home.
Art therapy, in all of its forms, has proven to be very beneficial for those epilepsy patients who have a hard time expressing their feelings through words (speech or writing). The practice also works very well for teenagers with epilepsy, because it can help them become more self-reliant and depend less on their parents. The practice spans over a certain number of sessions, usually determined by the art therapist and the patient’s doctors. The point of the exercises is to teach the patient self-expression and offer an outlet for feelings, so the patient need not have any level of artistic skill when beginning the therapy.
The process is a fairly simple one that begins with little talk, but much encouragement is given to the patient to be creative in whatever form they choose. After the patient becomes comfortable with the therapist, conversations may take place and the patient will move on to creating pieces of art that increase in self-expression as time moves on.
