Expressive Arts Therapy in a gist.

This blog post is about Expressive Arts Therapy for folks who are absolutely new to this type of therapy. Written to simplify the understanding of Expressive Arts Therapy which has been informed by how I view it. It is a subjective piece of writing with experience being the driving force.

It is of no surprise rather that our community thrived on creating art. From the temple sculptures, tribal art to beautiful cultural dances to songs of rituals, we have been a part of community that has used art in their daily lives ever since we’ve known humankind. Arts have always been a core ingredient of healing that has been in practice since ages. Now with the growth of Expressive Arts Therapy over the past 20 years has resulted in formation of it as an independent field.

Expressive Arts Therapy is a collaborative use of Creative Art Therapies like dance/ movement therapy, art therapy, drama therapy, and music therapy. Expressive Arts Therapy works on the intermodal synthesis of all these creative art therapies, which helps the client to experience their stories, feelings, thoughts and emotions in a multisensory manner. This intermodal nature of the therapy enriches the client’s experience of multilayered self – discovery.

“Consider dreams, where soul speaks through imagination. We may sense the movement of swimming or hear a voice sing or speak words; we may experience the act of killing or see a beautiful visual image of a city, or listen to the sound and rhythm of music. Imagination is intermodal"

- Minstreals of Soul

Today, Expressive Arts Therapy is helping to connect with the parts of our being that traditional talk therapy may not be able to readily access. The arts provide a medium through which we may be able to access our unconscious and inner feelings in a form that is tangible in nature. The beautiful nature of Expressive Arts Therapy helps in bringing the deep rooted experience to the surface without challenging the notion of safety for the client. The arts when created and witnessed by the client in the form of a visual art, a sculpture, a movement, or a song, helps them to view the process from a distance which provides them the medium to work with their feelings, symptoms, or concerns in a way that is safe for them. This process of creating art promotes client growth and self – expression.

Too often Expressive Arts Therapy has been incorrectly regarded as non - verbal therapy. In fact, it is both verbal and non – verbal. It is known that the verbalization of feelings and thoughts is a rather crucial part of any form of psychotherapy. But in Expressive Arts Therapy, language is not just merely a tool for explaining. It rather holds the capacity for the language to enter art.

A rather common fear of clients that has come up before actually being acquainted to Expressive Arts Therapy has been of “not being a good artist”. Expressive Arts Therapy encourages process more than the product. The product is equally valuable but not for its aesthetics, but rather as a source of memory of the process, or the feelings that may have come up, or the product of finding that voice again that reminds them of their expression.

Expressive Arts Therapy is sometimes confused with going to an Art Class or using Arts in a therapeutic manner. What really separates Expressive Arts Therapy from these two other forms of Art engagement is that the foundation of Expressive Arts Therapy is built on a relationship. It is a collaborative work which recognizes that it’s the process that holds transformative power not the product. The dynamics of relationship in an art class are very different from an Expressive Arts Therapy session. The relationship in the class is that of a teacher and a student whereas the dynamics in the session are informed by the idea that it’s the client who knows best about their lives. They are the expert and are in the driving seat.

Expressive Arts Therapy also paves its way into working with most populations. Expressive Arts Therapy has effectively been used for planning treatments and interventions for various populations like children and adults with trauma, couples, neurodivergent kids and adults, corporates, groups and many more.

Many practitioners find Expressive Arts Therapy flexible and adaptable enough to fit right with their school of thought that they practice. There are many similarities between the approaches to psychotherapies and Expressive Arts Therapy. One such approach is Person – Centered Therapy and here are some consistencies that have been identified across both the therapies arts as stated by Cathy Malchiodi (2005):

• The importance of creating a safe, nurturing, and non - judgmental environment.

• The clinician’s responsibility to be an empathic, open, honest, congruent, and a deep listener, who conveys acceptance and understanding.

• A trust in the client’s innate capacity to reach towards their full potential.

• Recognition that the process holds the transformative potential, not the product.

• Self-awareness can be facilitated through action, and thus as an action, creative expression can in turn expand a client’s ways of being.

• Empathy provides clients an opportunity to empower themselves and discover their unique identity and potential.

In my own practice, Expressive Arts Therapy has been a powerful medium for the work I do with my clients in the therapy room. Expressive Arts Therapy has been able to open the gates for self-expression thus leading to change and insight that was created by the client themselves. It opens the doors of imagination and thus reminds us of our own agency.

We are all artists in therapy. Rewriting the stories, changing the rhythm of our life and so much more. I’d like to leave you with this ending quote that has always been an inspiration for me.

“As I let myself be guided by the emerging story

the story’s coming forth becomes my guidance.

as I let it speak it speaks back to me”.