Art Therapy For Self-Esteem

Introduction

An artistic way of expressing ourselves is universal and all human beings are inherently creative.

Children naturally gravitate towards creative expression — making messes with mud and paints, they found comfort in, building blocks, and playing around with shapes and colours. Art is typically one of the first vehicles of interaction with the world, making sense of where things go and how they function. As children, art-making helps fine-tune motor skills, create spatial awareness, and encourage brain growth. Sadly, as we get older, there are fewer opportunities for free creative space. Art therapy is an invitation to reconnect with your inherent creative potential, to meet ourselves, and to establish a catalyst for renewal.¹

What is art therapy? 

Art therapy helps people to use creativity and self-expression to base their mental health.

The underlying concept is that in expressive arts therapies, people can understand and respond to their emotions and thoughts with a worthy new perspective this artistic expression is good for their mental well-being.

During a session, an art therapist works with clients to understand what is causing them distress. Then the therapist guides the client to create art that addresses the cause of their issue. During a session, art therapists:

• Explain the goals benefits and outcomes of art therapy
• Clear that clients don't need to think of themselves as creative or artistic to improve their well-being through artwork
• Helping the client to choose and use a medium, such as drawing, sculpture, collage, or painting
• Train the client to express themselves through art, usually by asking questions
• Plan for another session or for the client to work on their own which helps them to discover their selves¹

What is Self-esteem?

Self-esteem is your overall opinion of yourself, and your beliefs about your capabilities and limitations. Self-esteem is shaped by your thoughts, relationships, and experiences, including those related to culture, religion, societal status, and way of living.² Factors influencing self-esteem

There are multiple factors including:

• Media
• Natural environment
• Age
• Self-belief
• Religion
• Childhood events
• Culture

Examples of significant life events that may influence self-esteem:

• Experiencing the effects of other people’s negative behaviour e.g. having extremely critical parents or being bullied by others at school can disturb the childhood experience.
• Poor academic performance in school (that may originate from low self-esteem) results in a lack of confidence and poor overall mental health, contributing further to the reduction of self-esteem.
• Stressful life events such as being in toxic/abusive relationships, having financial problems, or experiencing a sudden unexpected life-changing event
• Ongoing medical problems such as chronic pain, serious illness, or physical disability 
• Mental illnesses such as anxiety disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder amongst many others³

Art therapy techniques and exercises

Certified art therapists have a deep understanding of the outcome and result that the creative process can have on those in therapy. Art therapists often use psychological, spiritual, and artistic theories combined with clinical techniques to achieve the desired therapeutic outcome which results in better mental health of an individual. Common techniques used in therapy include:

• Painting
• Finger painting
• Doodling
• Sculpting
• Play with moulding clay
• Carving
• Making pottery
• Drawing cards
• Using textiles
• Making collages⁶

The connection between art therapy and self-esteem 

There are growing scientific studies highlighting that art therapy helps conditions such as anxiety and depression, trauma-related mood disorders, low self-esteem, and other kinds of psychological disorders. It is also beneficial for people with a serious health condition, such as cancer, and other life-threatening conditions. Moreover, art therapy can also help people who are facing physical pain during hospitalisation to relieve their pain and to feel better.

Example of clinical case

Numerous other clinical studies have supported the therapeutic benefits of art therapy. Patients with chronic conditions have reported better health and well-being levels, and people with breast cancer have reported a decrease in negative emotions and an increase in positive emotions which then result in a positive overall outcome. Furthermore, individuals undergoing hemodialysis treatment reported reduced anxiety, lower levels of stress, less fatigue, and an increased sense of purpose in life as a result of art therapy.

Creating a safe space

Farber suggests building or drawing a physical boundary of a safe space or a sanctuary, whatever that means for you. “Imagine things like your emotional needs, physical boundaries, and things that inspire safety and comfort,” she says. It will cause great changes in mental health, If you don’t have the supplies you need to be crafty, consider drawing or creating a Pinterest mood board of photos and artwork that you find as an easier way to engage yourself in creativity.⁴

Colouring a feeling wheel

Even when we’re dealing with a lot of emotions and feelings, it’s not always easy to recognize them specifically. Identifying and calling a feeling is often the first step in dealing with it, so Guzman suggests a feeling wheel as an effective start-up activity, this will help us to become self-aware of our emotionally responsive art.⁴

Find a song lyric, poetry, prose passage, or quote that you engage with in some way. Farber suggests choosing one and using it as a basis to create art, this will cause a huge impact, and react to it however feels good, whether through sketching with a pencil, colouring with crayons, or coloured markers and pointers, to cause physical or emotional responses to the words.

A nature walk as inspiration

Including nature in your art therapy practice is a great activity. Farber suggests going for a walk daily and collecting things that are interesting and eye-catching. That could be leaves, sticks, flowers, pine cones, rocks, or other objects. While returning home, use your bounty-making art gallery to create a sculpture while focusing on your senses. If you’d like to stick to more digital art therapy, Guzman suggests a nature walk with capturing photos, instead of collecting materials to make something, do art as you go by taking or saving pictures of anything that is meaningful to you or evokes an emotion.⁴

Challenges and limitations of art therapy for self-esteem

Admittedly, as fabulous as art therapy can be, it also has powerful disadvantages. Keep in mind, that art therapy is not the same as attending a common art class. Instead, it’s much more complicated.

The goal of an art class is to come up with the final artwork for display. While, art therapy aims to encourage an individual to communicate his imagination, or sense through art.

This might be difficult for introverts who struggle to open up to people.

In addition, art therapy is a gradual healing process where sessions follow schedules. These time-limited sessions may make patients frustrated if their art isn’t finished. These time restrictions oblige individuals to speed up their artwork, which is not representative of their emotional state. Finally, another downside is that it is expensive to consult therapists and book sessions.⁵

Summary

Art therapy for self-esteem helps people to discover themselves and creatively helps to recognize one's self through different forms of artwork. It is a scientifically proven method to improve mental and physical well-being but first needs to discover what methods suit best as there are a variety of artistic methods to improve self-esteem.