Art as Self-Therapy
You can do art as self-therapy to relax the mind, push your boundaries, pass time, or simply to make a mess with your hands. If you like the results, you can display your work but you certainly don’t have to do so.
Art is personal. A piece of work can evoke deep feelings each time you look at it. Art as self-care is easily accessible. You can do it anywhere, alone or with others. It’s flexible.
Painting, doodling, and handwriting can reflect brain activity. There is a type of psychotherapy that uses art as a way to express one’s emotions as a way to heal, cope, and explore mental well-being. This is known as Expressive Arts. Sessions are guided by a licensed behavioral health counselor and can include various mediums like music, dance, writing, painting, sculpting, etc.
I’ll list resources for you below if you’re wanting healthcare providers that specialize in this type of therapeutic, clinical care.
For our purposes today, I bring to your attention the tough work of being a doula. Raw emotions during a hard case can bubble up or be kept simmering as we navigate difficult care providers, institutions, and even overly demanding clients. This can place significant strain on our psyche, workload, and personal lives. We know some stress and anxiety can be motivating and helpful in order to guide us to safety but prolonged or ignored stress and anxiety can lead to BIG problems, ones that may take years to truly understand and resolve.
It’s so easy to fall back on unhealthy coping mechanisms, like over-eating, over-exercising, and drug and alcohol use, and even with just small amounts or time spent using these crutches, we can exacerbate our symptoms and continue the cycle of trigger-rinse-repeat.
Birth workers see trauma. We experience secondary trauma and may lack the tools to help us process the experience in a meaningful way. We experience compassion fatigue. Maybe we try to ignore it altogether compounding our stress. Since many birth doulas are self-employed, we may not have access to adequate healthcare or an affordable provider specializing in trauma or psychotherapy.
Studies show time and again that drawing, doodling, coloring, and simply creating something for 20-plus minutes reduces cortisol caused by stress. So if you only practice art to reduce your stress levels, you’re well on your way to a healthier physical body, less pain and inflammation, and lowered blood pressure. The following additional benefits are really icing on your cupcake…
Benefits of Art for Mental Health
1. Meditative, creative problem solving
Let that crap go!
Art helps you understand an approach to a problem, gain resiliency, and freedom if you let it take you there. It’s practicing the process, and non-attachment to the end result, which is the gift you give yourself when making art or crafting.
If you really want to really challenge yourself, intend to throw away the artwork when you're finished. Rinse and repeat. Or use your non-dominant hand (or foot!) to hold the brush or swirl that paint around. Find your flow. You can make this a creative, mindful experience, or you can add music, a podcast, or an audible book to engage more of the senses.
So pick up those crayons and color alongside your kiddos, add some marker flair, or roll that play-dough together and then smash it!
Art is a release. It can help you heal. So let that crap go. When you allow yourself time to play with art, craft a new hobby, or knit a hat, you increase your sense of self-worth and build confidence in your abilities.
2. Boosts Self-Esteem, Builds Patience
Be brave enough to suck at something new!
We all have to start somewhere. Trial and error, time to practice, and a dollop of patience will help you build the skillset to understand how to create artwork you’ll like or feel pleased enough by to want to display it, give away or maybe even exhibit someday. Until then, remember little moments multiply into extraordinary achievements and that small steps are all that is needed to start a new journey.
3. Overcome Difficulties, Creating Bob Ross’ “Happy Accidents”
Responding through art…
Art can also be used to cope with pain and negative feelings. Creating something just for yourself may produce an emotional response like anger, sadness, or exhilaration.
{Pattern interrupt - I hope the following illustrates how helpful art and the process of letting go can be.}
When my marriage ended last year, I spent 4 weeks after my spouse left me just painting on glass. On a walkabout downtown, I found a large, old frame in an alley one day. I carried it home with me, cleaned it up, and began my self-treatment. I had just come from a beach trip where I spent days staring at the Gulf of Mexico from the 15th floor, talking through things with my family, and meditating on the stillness of the water. I tried to document that time by recreating a sunset/sunrise on the horizon in my artwork.
I’d never painted water before then. So this in itself was my first challenge. The second was that I hadn’t painted anything with a brush or acrylics in over a decade. I already had my mind made up that it was going to look horrible and that I’d want to destroy it afterward. But I also made up my mind that I’d go stir crazy if I didn’t get creative and busy myself immediately. I needed peace. I needed beauty. I needed color. And while the piece may end up a muddy work of pure crap, I was going to play with color and just freaking let it go!
Understanding what you are trying to capture by making art and breaking this down to how it makes you feel can be healing all by itself.
I used nature to create a landscape by painting the glass only using a sea sponge. I used both hands. I slowly layered multiple colors. Since I knew the glass “canvas” would smear and run if I rushed the process, I was able to feel my emotions as I worked. I experienced extreme frustration and even anger. I growled at the work. I cussed. Hours each day were spent layering new colors on top of the old, trying to blend in with the older paint, soften tones, and get the look I thought I wanted to see. Days turned into weeks and eventually I had to stop altogether because leaning over my table as I worked hurt my lower back terribly.
I titled this work “The Backbreaker.” Next, I bought plastic risers for my work area and raised my table a whole foot. I bought cheap foam squares to stand on and sometimes used a stool to lean on when I was tired. I kept working. With a heating pad strapped to my back. Often, I felt the urge to throw the work off the balcony and watch it satisfyingly smash into a zillion pieces but I kept on going.
I painted the old frame with a color that resembled sea glass. When I decided the piece was at a point where I didn't need to try to change it anymore, I slid the glass into the frame. The glass got scratched and the paint peeled away in many areas. Problem-solving skills initiated! I added some colored foil - pops that eventually took over the work and is now the focal point of the piece. It was never meant to be. You can’t look at it and truly know if it’s of a celestial explosion or if it’s of a sunrise over water.
Because it’s made of glass, I can’t just lock it in my closet or store it with the wood canvases. It HAS to be hung on the wall while I still want it around in one piece. At various times of the day and especially at sunrise or sunset, the Backbreaker sparkles its brilliant, ever-changing colors in an unpredictable and spectacular fashion.
How to use art and drawing as therapy
To explore your feelings or clear your mind, consider an adult coloring book or creating patterns of your own to fill in with paint markers. Afterward, pay attention to which emotions were associated with which colors.
You can immediately use supplies you already have around the house. Start scribbling.
Purchasing a low-cost starter set of Cray-Pas or beginner oil pastels can be gloriously indulgent. The colors are rich and blend beautifully - a far cry away from wax-based Crayola Crayons. Learn here how to easily use pastels.
Maybe you don’t have room to lay out your work or have pesky pets that will fiddle with it when you’re taking a break. A 10-pack of acrylic markers can take you far. Buy some canvas boards in bulk and play around with pressure, design, and layering. When the session is over, use your boards as a canvas for paint-pouring to try out another medium when you can claim a corner, room, or shed as a private workshop later on.
Truly the possibilities are endless! To finish out my post, I’ll provide resources below to help you get started on your personal journey. And I hope you like the video I created as a simple demonstration to show that you don’t have to be a trained artist to create meaningful work.
The point is to connect with your creativity.
Check out my Art Therapy board on Pinterest for inspiring ideas. Most nights, I watch artists create as I fall asleep. It clears my mind and helps me relax. Hope you like the Pinspiration!
You can buy pre-mixed paint colors but if you’d like to learn how to blend colors: https://www.foundmyself.com/blog/20-acrylic-painting-tutorials-for-beginners/
How to start painting with acrylics:
https://www.acrylicus.com/acrylic-painting-beginners-guide/
Here are some of the many forms of expressive art:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/therapy-types/expressive-arts-therapy
Exercises to sample art therapy techniques:
https://psychcentral.com/stress/art-therapy-ways-to-draw-your-stress-out#drawing-exercises
Info on Credentialing and an Art Therapist Locator:
https://www.atcb.org/find-a-credentialed-art-therapist/
Doulas for advocacy, understanding OB violence: