Drug addiction has so many negative impacts on your life. While you focus on the physical and social consequences of substance abuse, you also need to focus on the emotional impacts of addiction. In many ways, addiction distorts your emotions and turns everything upside down.
As you start to recover, you struggle to make sense of what you feel and why you feel the way you do. To regain balance in your life, you need to find healthy ways to express yourself. A great way to bring your feelings to the surface is through art therapy. In this article, you will learn more about art therapy in recovery and how healing through creativity can help you find peace and happiness.
Are you ready to find the lasting peace and happiness that is found in recovery? Multi-Concept Recovery (MCR) is a Burbank rehab center that can help. MCR is a cut above all other rehabs because we employ an integrated and individualized approach to treatment that allows us to address your unique needs.
Call us today and find long-term sobriety.
What is Art Therapy?
If you want a cut-and-dry definition of art therapy, it is a medium where you generate healing through creativity. Art therapy in recovery is an effective tool used by therapists to help clients interpret, express, and resolve their emotions and thoughts. Art therapy isn’t simply the act of doodling for the sake of just doing it. Instead, experienced therapists work with clients on the emotions and thoughts that keep them stuck. Through the creativity of art, clients can understand and respond to their feelings and gain perspective on what they feel and how they can work through those feelings.
During art therapy and art-based support group sessions in treatment, therapists follow the following process:
- Introduce the client to art therapy and explain the purpose of art therapy
- Explain they don’t have to have an art background or think of themselves as creative
- Help each client choose the medium they want to use
- During the creative process, the therapist asks the client what they are feeling and thinking
- Evaluate the final product and check in with the client on their feelings.
What Can I Take Part In Through Art Therapy in Recovery?
There are several different mediums within art therapy that you can use to express your emotions and feelings. You can take part in visual art therapies such as painting, sketching, sculpture, collage, and even simple doodling. As talked about in the previous section, therapists will guide you through the creative process and ask you what you are feeling or thinking as you create. Oftentimes, therapists will give you a particular theme for each activity. You can even take the pieces you create and put together art exhibitions.
Art therapy also includes various forms of dance, and you explore different types of rhythms and movements. As with art therapy, you don’t have to have experience in formal dance or have dance skills to take part in this form of therapy. The benefits of dance therapy include helping you feel in touch with your body and how it reacts to your physical surroundings. Dance therapy also helps you feel more confident in your body, and it helps you express your emotions through movement rather than words.
Art therapy also includes drama and performance activities. Drama therapy allows you to create characters, create stories, or even create puppets. While drama therapy can involve speaking parts, you can also mime or perform other creative movements. This form of art therapy may be beneficial in helping you express and resolve difficult feelings. Drama therapy also helps you learn to explore playfully and engage your imagination.
Multi-Concept Recovery Offers Outpatient Treatment That Heals The Mind, Body, And Spirit
Dealing with addiction issues can leave you a total mess. In order to repair the damage that addiction causes, you need evidence-based treatment that is proven to work and customized to meet your needs. Multi-Concept Recovery offers a variety of Los Angeles outpatient drug treatment and mental health programs that treat the whole person and not just the symptoms. The tools and support you receive from the experienced staff at MCR will empower you to transform your life.
Call MCR today and start your journey towards total wellness.
