Art therapy emerged as a mental health discipline in the mid 20th century, out of the fields of human development and education, psychotherapy, and the visual arts.

The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) defines art therapy as “Employing the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages with the aim of resolving conflicts and problems, developing interpersonal skills, managing behavior, reducing stress,  and increasing self-esteem and self-awareness.” Art therapy can have emotional, physical, cognitive, and social benefits.

Emotional Benefits of Art Therapy
Children have always used art and play as a means of coping with events and emotions beyond their control. Adults may find it more difficult to engage in the creative process so freely. But when we do let go, we are assuming an active role rather than a passive one over our experience. When you make art in relation to your disability, you are practicing control over an experience that may be otherwise difficult to accept. This active response is empowering as it increases your sense of control, hopefully providing a realization that you have a choice in how you relate to your disability. Having choices is empowering! This freedom of choice boosts our self-esteem and self-confidence.

Physical Benefits of Art Therapy
Although research on the physical benefits of art therapy research is still in its preliminary phase, some of the documented benefits of art are reduction in fatigue, depression, anxiety, pain and stress, in patients whose treatment plan includes art therapy. By lowering stress and anxiety, creative arts therapy may even serve to boost a patient’s immune response.

Cognitive Benefits of Art Therapy
Art-imagery, especially when created in a therapeutic setting, can provide insight into patient diagnosis. However, it is important to remember that imagery is idiosyncratic and it is virtually impossible to diagnosis a person from one piece of art. Caregivers of people with disabilities should not infer anything about a piece of art that its creator is not verbally supporting. Still, art making can provide a glimpse into a person’s inner world and serve as a lens to help caregivers and family, and others understand the point of view of a person with a disability.

The advent of technologies that enable researchers to better understand the brain’s process has provided evidence of art therapy’s cognitive benefits. Research demonstrates that traumatic memories are stored in the right hemisphere of the brain, while our verbal capacity is controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain. Art making can promote communication across the two hemispheres of the brain so that a person who has recently sustained a disability is better able to verbally articulate their experience after expressing themselves through art making.

Social Benefits of Art Therapy
Group art therapy can help provide an opportunity for people with disabilities to socialize as well as provide a safe outlet for self-expression. Art therapy in a group setting may help people with a recent disability recognize their feelings and problems are not unique, replacing a sense of isolation with connectedness.  

The multiple benefits of art therapy are a frontier that still needs to be explored by those whose lives are touched by disability. For more information on this topic please visit: American Art Therapy Association, or the National Arts and Disabilities Center.

See Related Articles
Learn about art therapy for children with disabilities, in Using Art Therapy with Your Special Needs Child.

Frida Kahlo used painting as a way of dealing with her pain.  Check out Frida Kahlo Depicts Disability and Her Colorful Life.