Art Therapy
Different art techniques are used in Art Therapy. Art manages to translate the language of Emotion in an extraordinary way. When the Mind cannot find all the right words, when the Body is blocked or immobilised, that is where the expressive possibilities of Art can surprise us.
1. Automatic writing or psychography. This brainstorming technique on paper helps us gradually release the anxiety of the Mind, allowing us to let go in an almost unconscious release of creative or automatic writing. Through analysis, we delve into the meaning of the thoughts and emotions that preoccupy us at a specific given time.
2. Drawing on canvas, stones, wood or paper. The creative Mind pushes the Emotion, no matter what way we choose or know how to draw. As long as we let go and experiment, like when we were children — when the colours filled our eyes and drawing was free of rules. Drawing is an excellent exercise in our ability to let go and detach ourselves from our past.
3. Crafts or collage. Through a collection of different and unrelated objects, from plasticine and coloured paper to keys, string, broken picture frames, masks and anything else we might imagine, we create something meaningful to our therapy process. The power of symbolism that we employ becomes a reference point for our memory, helping us view something important to us from a different angle or in a different way.
The purpose of these art therapy media is to activate the communication of our Mind-Body-Emotion Triptych. They teach us the diversity of the Mind, of the Body and of the Emotion and the way these “cooperate” to produce a “work of art.”
The Art Therapy technique is part of the integrative therapy approach of the Triptych, and is used on a case-by-case basis during one-on-one sessions, group therapy sessions and seminars. Each technique aims at a different expression of the language of our Mind, Body and Emotion. This has proven to be the most powerful therapeutic approach, as none of the elemnts of our Triptych remain unexplored on the healing journey.
