Reflection on My Blog.

Arttheraplatapus was an experience I really enjoyed. I learned blogging wasn't just about one specific writing style or vaue topics, it's about diversity and being thorough. My blog probably compares to others as reletively review-like. I enjoyed explaining and opening minds of those who aren't already aware of art therapy and the benefits it can really have on a person.

Art vs. Rape Victims

If you, anyone you know or anyone you may have previously known was ever subjected to a rape crime, you may already know the struggle one finds in getting over the incident. Rape is a personal, disgusting, horrific experience for one to endure. Victims live victimized in their own body, mind, and soul for the rest of thier lives with this ugly scar on their concious. Parents are forced to watch this struggle without any way to ease or dull the pain.

Little do many know is art can help. Seeing a pediactic psychiatrist might not help a rape victim in the same way art can because talking about one thing might be way harder than drawing it. Art (if it were to be a person) has an open mind, if you will. It does not judge, hate or glamourize your emotions. It lets you be, and lets you live, but also lets you vent. This is very beneficial for victims and family members of victims because it helps them talk without words, vent without the outloud and obvious pain.

I suggest art therapy for all rape victims.

Toma Gabor.

Toma Gabor is a profound clay and architecture artist from Romania, although his works feature world wide. Gabor is a photography entusiast aswell, but really enjoys exploring art as a whole. He held a session in Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre in the summer of 2005 with the intention to promote art therapy for the first time in that theatre. This intention included bringing in any art enthusiatast, art therapy seeker, or artist alike to instill their emotions onto one huge canvas. "The session aims to dig deep in the immediate and long-term memories of the subconscious mind to specify the genuine irritating situations that the art therapy seekers have gone through, leaving an unpleasant impact on their subconscious mind." Said Gabor. He wanted to get to the underlying core of each individuals mind, and surface it; knowledgeable of the fact it could be a negative upbringing, and hoping it would.

Art vs. Autism: The Rewards Program.

I work as an in home care and habilitation service staff worker for a school that educates only the mentally ill. My client is my youngest sibling, a 15 year old boy with a lot of energy. Yesterday I asked my little brother to rinse off his dish after having used it for a hotdog he just finished which had been smothered in ketchup. He was having an awful day, not cooperaing, neglecting tasks, not reaching communication goals. This fask I had provided had resorted to him throwing a crying fit.

Knowledgeable of the fact it was my responsibility to protect him and myself from any frustrated violent action that he may conduct I had to act quickly. Rather restraining him (which is a commonly used physical control system of guarding yourself and others by holding down specific limbs from flailing about), I looked into his eyes and said (For confidentiality purposes we'll say his name is Kevin.) "Kevin, I need you to calm down. I want to draw with you today, but I can't in till you calm down." His crying fit became more of a sob and he looked around as if searching for the right answer; unaware of what we were intending on drawing with considering he didn't have any supply. Kevin can't talk, but Kevin is smart. He can tell when he's being lied to, and he can tell when he is not. Luckily, he trusted my words even without the visual proof of this activity. If he hadn't had faith in my telling the truth, this could have become a very dangerous situation.

I kept the art supply closely in my purse. It was quite the treat; a 54 count of crayola crayons with the sharpener on the back of the box. Without showing him this, I directed him again "Kevin, if you rinse off your plate, you and I will draw pictures." This showed to be a better approach than the original order of just "Okay, now rinse off your plate," because he actually did it this time. Once he finished the rinse I showed him the crayola as if it were a drug, slipping the box half way out my purse saying "Now are you going to continue to be good?" Kevin signed the 'good' sign of sign language, and I pulled the box out completely. He and I had drawn for at least a good hour, with my help he managed to draw a boat on an ocean with a sun behind it.

This mechanism is used commonly and is called the reward program. The general concept of this program is to give your client a specific task or goal with a reward offering after completion. The repetition of this program familiarizes clients with their everyday tasks, making it easier for them to complete these tasks independently in the near future. It is clearly very effective, because after Kevin and I had completed our drawings we framed his and hung it on the wall. He seemed please for the rest of the afternoon, with about an 80% decrease in violent related activity.

Art

Art is something people consider to be something you have to be good at to do. This is a misconception generally occurring amongst those who have never really attempted to make art. In order to be an artist you need only one thing: A heart.Art can be a channel to your emotional distress or enlightenment. If you learn how to express the scatter of your thoughts or the hurt in your heart via paint brush you are more likely to find reassurance in who you are, reflecting who you might become. You don’t have to try to make art, because you already are an artist. Art has no boundaries; it is in everything you see. The engineering of your thoughts, even when you're just thinking of your hunger in the night, is art. The magazine you read when you're sitting on the toilet is art. The lack of food in your refrigerator is art. The cluttered arrangement of books in your local library is art. The unclear inarticulate parts of life are undeniably: Art. All you have to do is look around, open your eyes and mind and teach yourself how to feel, and then put it on paper. Don’t be a dull person, untie the seams of your life and fill the space with color. Pick up a piece of charcoal, hell pick up a crayon. You are art, you are an artist, and you can make art.

A Project.

A common ice breaking project for those in art therapy is making a collage. A collage is a cluster of visual images painted, drawn, or glued onto a paper. This is something probably all of us have done at one point, but to do it in a therapeutic way you have to forget about whom you are, you have to forget about what you enjoy; and most definitely, you have to forget how others perceive you, or how you'd like to be perceived. The project is to make a collage that tells a side of you that no one knows. It can just be a cluster or it can be a bunch of images used to make a very image of its own. Write two sentences for each picture. Sentence one; write how it expresses you for who you are. And for sentence two write why you think it's something you keep in the shadows. You will need a general piece of copy or construction paper. Cut out images or draw some, add some poetry if you feel the need to, try to remember to stay true to who you really are. If you’re into dog races and everyone knows you’re into dog races, and you put images of dog races on there, we’re going to know you didn’t really search hard enough inside.

Try to be unconscious and aware at the same time. Good luck, have fun and remember to be honest with yourself.

Art Therapy vs. Eating Disorders; a true story.

Eating disorders a battle of which 1% of the American Society faces, to the best of our knowledge. This statistic is one that I’ve heard in classrooms, I’ve read in books, and I’ve seen on TV. So if 1% of this country is diagnosed with an eating disorder, therefore, who is to say how many go un-diagnosed? How do the undiagnosed cases stay that way?
A story I can tell you is one of which a very good friend of mine had battled a shadowed and secret eating disorder for 5 years; classifying herself as an anorectic with bulimic tendencies. She was mortified of weight gain, intimacy, new friendships, and ultimately being outside of barriers that she had made for herself.

One day she sat me down, explaining her battle and how she wanted her life back. I didn’t know what to say, I couldn’t fix this situation and I told her to go to seek an institution. However, she didn’t want to be “The girl that was in the Looney-bin for being crazy and thin.” I asked her how she felt about art therapy, something I learned through the therapists who worked with my three autistic siblings. She said she knew little of it but she would give it shot.

The therapist she had found wasn’t the type that had her sit on a black leather chair and asked her how she felt about abstract photos. He was an art therapist, who told her she would find the strength to make a new direction in life visually. And step by step, drawing by painting by drawing, she had found that new direction.

She told me they were like classes that you got lost in, not because you didn’t understand. She explained her new ability to express her emotions and her fears through creativity as a piece of her that she wasn’t ashamed of .That by simply drawing and painting pictures had helped her see her eating disorder as not a vice but a disease.

After a year and a half of therapy she was fully recovered. She has gained about 20 pounds and loves her new life. She has sold 12 of her pieces from therapy, which in the end was more income than what she spent on therapy itself. She is hoping to work teaching fine arts.