Making Art as a Form of Emotional Therapy
As a child, I often occupied myself with drawing, painting, and making art. Now a junior in college and being under constant stress, I have returned to art to enhance my mental health. Drawing, painting, and 3D-designing have drastically improved my mental health by giving me a creative outlet that allows me to take control of my emotions one stroke at a time.
Prior to using art to improve my mental health, I often bottled up my emotions. My anxiety plagued me in social situations. My frustrations irritated me to no end. I was also afflicted with bouts of stress from worldly matters. Without changing my external circumstances, I found tranquility in the art I was making by creating pieces that reflected my emotions.
Many people are afraid to make art, believing they have no artistic talent and can never get better. I believed I had no artistic capabilities for most of my life. However, this changed during my senior year of high school when I decided to draw anyway, using whatever talent my body possessed. Through practice, I cultivated my skills and improved. The key is to take a leap and make some art. Skill can come later.
If the task of making art is still daunting, start out small. I recommend beginning with a sticky note, as many people are intimidated with filling a whole sheet of paper. Next, visualize the type of drawing you wish to create while taking your emotions into account. Consider using specific colors to aid in the transfer of your emotions, such as using red to reflect your anger or yellow to express your happiness. If you’re anxious, frustrated, or stressed, visualize those feelings and attempt to draw them. Personally, I take deep breaths while I attempt to visualize my stress onto the canvas: this allows me to experience a release of pressure and come to peace with my emotions. In the end, it does not matter what your drawing looks like. The process of physically drawing out one’s emotions on paper, regardless of what was drawn or the quality of the drawing, helps reduce anxiety and other negative emotions (Mercer, Warson, & Zhao, 2010). The end goal is to use the process of making art as a way to help better understand and control your emotions.
In the end, art is about self-expression. When making art, let your pencil, pen, paintbrush — or whatever media you choose to use — be an extension of your body. Think of your artistic tools as a way to transfer your emotions directly from your consciousness onto the canvas. For me, the process of making art has been an invaluable form of emotional therapy, and I encourage everyone to try it out for themselves.
Reference
Mercer, A., Warson, E., & Zhao, J. (2010). Visual journaling: An intervention to influence stress, anxiety and affect levels in medical students. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 37, 143-148. doi:10.1037/t06070-000
Bryce Robinson has been a member of the Interactive Measurement Group since Spring 2019. Bryce is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology at UNLV. After graduating in the Spring of 2022, Bryce hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, so he can eventually become a clinical psychologist.