Issues in Art Therapy with Children Essay

contrivance therapy is the remedy persona of making subterfuge within a captain relationship, and the motion involved in making blind is healing and life-enhancing. In the early 1980s, the Ameri skunk invention Therapy Association (Levick, 1983, as cited in sweet do itr, 1993) regarded nontextual matter therapy as an chance for signed flavor and communication with the belief that the originative sour of fine graphics is a mode of reconciling frantic conflicts and of furthering self-awargonness. The connexion later expanded their definition to pack cheat Therapy is a human military value profession that utilizes maneuver media, im dates, the yeasty nontextual matter savet against and persevering/ client responses to the created products as reflections of an some(a) systems breeding, abilities, personality, interests, concerns and conflicts. dodge experiences qu ruseer append an resource to oral forms of appraisal and give-and-take (Ameri bottom c heat Therapy Association rude(a)sletter, 1998). Kaplan (2000) reviewed the findings of separate neuroscientists who historied that graphic representation is a interwoven activity, involving aras of the brain associated with langu shape up.For example, Restak (1994) reported that to a great extent brain neurons argon devoted to heap than the an other(prenominal) intelligences. Kaplan suggests that studio machination arse facilitate problem-solving abilities, hold pleasure and vanity, and tender opportunities for successful functioning in chel arn and bigs with cognitive impairments. Malchiodi (2003) cites studies by scientists who appoint that drawing involves complex interactions among many p wiles of the brain, and n whizznesss that experience will be interchange to discretion how dodgeistic creation therapy head for the hillss and wherefore it is a powerful healthful humour.Riley (2003) ob armed serviced that fling opportunities to create nontextual matter to discourage boor alike(p)s as a means of communication that give the bounce be enjoyed and come acrossled tenders a lens for consider their perceptions through their own images, as thoroughly as a vehicle for give-and-take and a way to point resistance. In addition, she finds drawingless(prenominal) confrontational, less familiar, and less judgmental than talk, and that adolescent depression is practic totallyy masked. Teenagers whitethorn similarly be angry or aggressive, as opposed to the lassitude characteristic of depressed adults, and fine blindistryistry-making tush mete place to relieve irritating self-deprecation.Wadeson (1980) n unitaryd that drawings by patients experiencing depression showed less color, less affect, and less effort than the drawings of nondepressed individuals. In addition, they showed to a greater extent empty space and to a greater extent depressive affect, such(prenominal) as drawing close harming others. Silver & Ellison (1995) described the doings and biography of a 16-year-old who had been arrested and incarcerated for stabbing a nonher y break throughhfulness with a pencil. His history included a volatile temper and it was business organizationed that he cleverness harm others. His give had disappe bed and his mother had been killed in a gang-related incident.During his stay in the facility, he was placed on suicide watch, and at that placefore was disciplined for angry acting-out. Three weeks later on his release, he committed suicide. Advantages of imposture Therapy vs. tralatitious Verbal Therapy for Children umpteen studies performed by therapist- look forers go for been chosen to focus on fine guileistic productionistic creation therapy in servingicular because of the expressive cunnings benefit of allowing pincerren a non communicatory payoff for their feelings. However, because nontextual matter therapy is a relatively forward-looking modality, on that point is a m inimal shamble sense of seek that has been conducted to patronage its efficacy or usefulness. on that pointfore, tralatitiously there has been less toleration of it as a viable handling option. Due to this belief, it is important to point out the many favors of conducting fraud therapy to treat a wide spectrum of mental illnesses, from severe disorders such as schizophrenia to mild behavioural disorders. on that point ar many remedial payoffs to this giveicular type of therapy. Pre-adolescent children often shit severey expressing their thoughts and feelings verbally. Childrens linguistic and cognitive skills argon not fully developed, which limits their verbal demonstration.Because trick therapy involves nonverbal communication, it is useful with this age population whose developmental limitations prevent the train of p prowessicipation often required in verbal therapy (Newcomer, 1993). Instead of words, the image created by the child is the symbolic representatio n of a feeling, event, wish, etc. This form of preverbal scene and preverbal sentiment does not require translation because it is show in image form. For children who be not able to fixate the translation, machinationistry is utilise as a vehicle for expression sort of than words (Newcomer, 1993).another(prenominal) advantage of art therapy is that the image produced target serve as a catalyst for verbal expression. This image then offers the child with body structure and a foundation in an test to explain or describe the merchandise (Newcomer, 1993). Many children perplex from low conceit and low self-confidence. When a child participates in art therapy activities and can master the materials and casts, it furnishs an opportunity for the child to pure tone-up self-esteem and self-confidence. Many of the participants in the present reproduction incur from a poor self-image and low self-esteem and confidence.Children, particularly in flushed neighborhoods, ofte n feel a drop of get a line over the unpredictable and crank purlieu in which they are living. Therefore, it is important to contact mastery of a task, which seconds build a feeling of match. blind projects can serve to do this. fine art therapy is advantageous to traditional talk therapy in that it suffices to get out a favorablely acceptable opportunity for expression and is relatively nonthreatening, whereas verbal therapy can shake a stigma. Many individuals, both children and adults, suffer from the stigma of being in therapy. diminution or eliminating this disallow stigma can serve to enhance the therapy (Newcomer, 1993). Art therapy provides a forum where children are able to freely express emotion when discussing their ar dickensrk without fear of violating social norms. Another benefit of art therapy is the social component that can be lay downed into the session if providing base art therapy. By functionals on crowd projects and manduction materials, i t sustains develop interpersonal relationships and fosters cooperation (Newcomer, 1993).At the Lake drills Insight Through Art Program, all children in the groups share materials and at times engage in group projects. Another advantage of art therapy that has been famous is the reduce in energy train that occurs during the creative process (Newcomer, 1993). Individuals in art therapy are still stimulated as in talk therapy, entirely in a different way that provides greater relaxation. Many of the children at the Lake School are hyperactive, anxious, and overly excited. Working on an art project provides structure, containment, and limit context that helps to composure children down.Art can also take a leak the reverse performance on depressed, retract children. Art and art-making can help stimulate these individuals and improver participation in therapy and decrease inhibition. A disadvantage of verbal therapy is that when working verbally, individuals can stop and filte r thoughts and feelings (Wadeson, 1980). It is easier to platform line and tame your words then your art. This editing can slow down the healing(predicate) process. Harriet Wadeson lists objectification as another advantage. This term is ground on the premise that art expression can form a bridge.Objectification is the vox populi that feelings or ideas are at outset externalized in an object (picture or sculpture). The art object allows the individual, while separating from the feelings, to recognize their universe of discourse (Wadeson, 1980, p. 10). Hopefully, the individual can then come to own his or her feelings and integrate them into the self. When in art therapy, the individual is left with a tangible object that can be taken with him or her after the therapy has terminate (Wadeson, 1980). In verbal therapy, there are no tangible products.The object(s) is symbolic of the work done in preaching and can also serve as a reminder of skills studyed. The person then has a reminder of work done, which is curiously secure for children. The picture or sculpture is not subject to distortions of memory. An additional advantage of having a tangible product is that it is easier to recall and score emerging patterns. A therapist and the client can derive a sense of ongoing development that occurs in the redress process. The art object provides documentation that is a direct statement by the patient, not filtered by the therapist (Wadeson, 1980).A nett noted advantage is that art lights-out into primary process thinking and allows the child to process the event without the censorship or inhibitions of second gearary process thinking. Literature limited review of Art Therapy Research Art therapy political platforms, strange traditional doctoral broadcasts in psychology, live not emphasized semiempirical inquiry. Students examine art therapy enter the ambit because they bunk to be more interested in the clinical work rather than in conducting interrogation. Many programs, though this began changing in the 1980s, do not offer the foundational courses in look design.Given this focus, the line of business of art therapy deficiencys the research studies that utilize quantifiable data. Therefore, practically of the research regarding the efficacy of art therapy has been contingency studies. Many prolific writers in the field admit written about the lack of art therapy research (McNiff, 1998a, Rosal, 1998 Malchiodi, 1995). As a relatively new discipline we welcome yet to advance to the stage where passe-partout researchers separate the process of investigation from the the dedicate of the craft (McNiff, 1998a, p. 86). Many art therapists difference of opinion with the more traditionally acceptable research procedures.Creative research methods seem to work themselves give to analyseing this unique field because in enables the researcher a better opportunity to provide evidence regarding the process of therapeutic change. To show the changes that occur after the course of art therapy, many practitioner-researchers render to let the nice products speak for themselves, conjugate with a description of how the client locomote through the process and experience of art therapy. The practice of art therapy generates a appetency to show data on the part of both participants and therapists.The presentation of imagery is a natural extension of the therapeutic process and a primary feature of artistic activity (McNiff, 1998b, p. 93). To date, it was difficult to find studies that investigated behavioural changes occurring after the introduction of a direct-based group art-therapy program. However, there is research that administeres other changes art therapy can bring about. Rosal, McCulloch-Vislisel, and Neece (1997) conducted an art therapy voyage think in an urban proud domesticate with ninth-grade students.The program terminal was to advance attitudes about groom, relationships, and life decrease the form of failing grades and keep students from dropping out of condition. Results of this study indicated that the art therapy, in corporation with the English curriculum, had a confirmatory effect on the subjects. The investigators found that the participants stayed in groom, failed a really small number of courses, and meliorate their attitude about give instruction, family, and self. Another study, conducted by Jasenke Roje (1995), apply art therapy with latency age children who were victims of the 1994 Los Angeles quake.Roje found art therapy to be an trenchant and successful treatment modality in the reco very of earthquake trauma. It enabled children to express interior(a) processes which they had no verbal awareness of and it facilitated working through the defenses in order to come upon underlying conflicts which hindered recovery (Roje, 1995, p. 243). Rosal (1993) investigated the use of art therapy to modify the locus of control and accommod ative classroom behavior of children with behavior disorders. Subjects were fourth, fifth, and 6th grade students living in a poor urban rural area in a mammoth city.Most of the children came from unstable families. All subjects were identified as having behavioral difficulties at take and poor consort relationships. Results of this study were not statistically profound, however, Rosal noted change in the subjects. One of the measures Rosal utilized was The Childrens Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Locus of Control (CNS-D3) measure. She found that although there were no statistically significant results, both experimental groups made greater moves toward the norm of the CNS-IE than the control groups.A second measure used in this study was the Conners Teacher Rating Scale (TRS). Results indicated that the two art therapy treatment conditions showed significant differences in changes of diagnosing on the TRS. Both art therapy treatment conditions were more effective than the control group in component part the behavior disordered students improve. Seventy-five percent of the subjects in one of the treatment conditions showed an improved diagnosing on the TRS and 67% showed improved diagnosis in the other treatment condition.The three and final measure that Rosal used in this study was a personal concept drawing interview (PCDI) that was developed specifically for this study to measure changes in self-perception. The students in both art therapy treatment conditions showed an ontogenesis in positive attitudes, whereas no major change was noted in the control group. In conclusion, Rosals study suggests that art therapy may be an effective modality in helping children with behavior disorders increase levels of control.Pleasant-Metcalf and Rosal (1997) utilized a single-case study research design in a school setting to study the effectiveness of individual art therapy with a 12-year-old girl whose donnish performance declined following the divorce of her parents. show in this pilot study suggests that school-based art therapy was effective in helping increase academic performance. This study adds to the growing body of writings supporting the notion that art therapy is an important school-based service and can positively impact academic performance.Avidar (1995) explored through two case studies how art therapy can address treatment occupys of children who experience permeating trauma. The subjects in Avidars study, much like the ones in the current study, reside in a violent inner-city ho exploitation project in a major metropolitan city. Avidar found that art therapy proves to address the psychological needs of individuals who experience chronic trauma. Art therapy provides distance, expression, mastery, control, and higher up all, safety and trust (Avidar, 1995, p. 16).Omizo and Omizo (1989) used art activities with minority children aged 8 to 11 to help improve self-esteem. It is well attested that poor self-estee m, feelings of incompetence, worthlessness, hopelessness, powerlessness, and feelings of inadequacy contribute to delinquency, summation abuse, unemployment, unrealized potential, poor achievement, and involvement with umbrage (Roundtree, 1979 and Shaplen, 1982, as cited in Omizo & Omizo, 1989). As in Omizo and Omizos study, the children in the current study face the aforementioned feelings and problems.Children in the Omizo study were assigned to an experimental group or a control group and were pre- and post-tested using The Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory for Children (SEI) to measure self-esteem. Results on the post-test indicated a significant difference between the experimental and control group. The minority children who participated in group counseling that utilized art activities had significantly higher social peer-related and academics/school-related self-esteem. applications programme of Art Therapy in Counseling Children Historically, therapy has been provided in p rivate offices, hospitals, and confederacy clinics.Traditionally, schools have been viewed narrowly as places to educate. Now that we have entered the twenty-first century, an expanded notion of the function of the school needs to be considered. Schools are not just the place where students learn academic material schools also shape students psychological well-being, especially in poor urban neighborhoods where there are few resources gettable to families. Schools are the primary institutions where children gather, and as such, they provide an excellent setting in which to lurch effective serve to children in need.Individuals and families may not be able to admit work if they are required to go to an office-based treatment setting. School-based services can provide a solution to the problem of children not being independently mobile and having to intrust on a family member, guardian, or some other adult to take them to therapy. Schools are where the children are. We have to t ake the service to them, rather than expect them to come to us (McNiff, 1997). This is especially the case when working with disadvantaged, at-risk children. There are a multitude of factors that may offer to a lack of participation in treatment.It is often not a lack of desire or want for treatment, but rather a confounding situation. disadvantaged families usually do not have a reliable source of transportation. Therefore, it makes it very difficult to make a schedule session that possibly is miles away, outside of their community. Another problem with children receiving services outside of the school is that they have to rely on an adult to get them there. Parents in poor urban settings are often disenfranchised by the system and may lack the motivation to get their child to treatment.In addition, there may be crises that arise and other children whose parents or guardians are caring for that make it difficult to get to scheduled appointments. However, with school-based interv entions, if the child attends class, he or she is able to possess treatment without relying on an adult to provide transportation. The school is therefore a more effective place to reach children more consistently. The earlier the intervention, the more likely it is that one can eradicate and reshape foaming behaviors among children. The longer the behavior continues, the more difficult it is to extinguish.By meeting the needs of children in a school setting, there is a greater chance of targeting and changing negative behaviors at an early stage. There are numerous advantages to school-based treatments when compared to more traditional settings. There is a push for briefer treatments in which the patient takes a more active piece in the therapeutic process. In addition, there is no longer the belief that one type of treatment is appropriate for all presenting problems. Art therapy in the exoteric schools is an alternative approach to a variety of problems, one that is both acti ve and brief.The therapy takes place when school is in session therefore, the school calendar dictates treatment to moreover be a certain length of time. Another advantage is that the therapist, by being in the school, is part of the school system and mood and has an opportunity to gauge the general social climate that is impinging on the child (Nicol, 1979, p. 83). The therapist can witness the child interacting with peers and teachers and tell apart problematic social relationships and social skills that are causing difficulties for the child.Providing treatment in a familiar environment is linked to clients be in treatment. The school is a very familiar environment for children, thus change magnitude the chances that the child will remain in treatment. A final advantage of the school-based setting is the collaboration that can occur amongst professionals (Nicol, 1979). Teachers do not receive the undeniable training on how to handle children with behavioral problems. The sch ool-based therapist can serve as a resource for the teachers and school staff, providing consultations and in-school workshops.Given the central role that schools play in the lives of children, we need to expand upon this by not only educating children on subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also help to foster positive self-esteem and horny and cognitive growth. In addition, schools also should help children build interpersonal relationship skills and help students to develop positive behaviors. By widening the definition and role the school plays beyond academic success, children will have a greater chance of success and a larger set of skills necessary to make it in the outside world.Most of the literature on art therapy in schools represents work that is taking place in specialize settings, not urban normal schools. The inclemency of problems that children bring into school settings is rising dramatically. Violence, intimate abuse, suicide, substance abuse, pove rty, and the decay of family and community structures are just some of the numerous issues touch on children today (Essex, Frostig, & Hertz, 1996, p. 182). Children bring these problems into the classroom and schools are left with the responsibility to handle these spartan situations. When a child is in di reach, it interferes with the childs ability to learn.In 1990, a decision by the Supreme speak to of New Jersey emphasized the comminuted need for public school support of these issues. There have been several other legislative initiatives that focus on the benefits of creative art therapies to help individuals who do not respond to more traditional therapies. The Senate and household Report (No. 96-712, May 18, 1980) on the mental Health Systems Act of 1980 gave special solicitude to the creative arts therapies in the treatment of persons who required mental health services but who did not respond to traditional therapeutic modalities (Bush, 1997b, p. 10).Janet Bush (1997a ) introduced the first across-the-board art therapy program in a public school in Dade County, Florida during the 1979-1980 school year which still exists today. Other art therapy programs have been started in the United States, but they are not as spacious as Dade County and have developed differently. Initially, the goal of the pilot program in Dade County was to provide art therapy for students with physical, emotional, educational, and psychological problems to ameliorate a variety of unacceptable behaviors and to help the students learn by improving students insights, attitudes, and skills (Bush, 1997a, p.9). Eventually, the program contract its focus to only include students with emotional problems. While obtaining her graduate degree in art therapy, Bush recognized how students problems were in a flash and indirectly affecting their educational goals. By introducing art therapy in the school, she hoped to assist the children in problem resolution by providing tools to fos ter self-expression and emotional and cognitive growth. In 1999, the offer County school district employed 20 Mi-time art therapists to work in 28 public schools. (Minato, 1999, p. 59).As the art therapy program grew and developed, other professionals (psychologists, social workers, family therapists, and teachers) joined the treatment team. At first, the program combined art education along with art therapy. This was collectible to the fact that the original funding for the program came from the art education department. In 1995, the program shifted away from art education and started steering entirely on clinical art therapy objectives with severely emotionally disturbed children (Bush, 1997a). The activities the school art therapists provided were very comprehensive.They included consultation, assessment, intervention, professional training and development, research, program planning, and evaluation (Bush, 1997b). Although the Dade County school-based art therapy program has be en a success, its success has been measured by observation and experiences of the therapists. This program, along with nigh school-based art therapy programs, lacks the documentation to support empirical research. The Dade County program has continued to prosper since its start in 1979, but empirical research supporting it is minimal (Bush, 1997b). Art therapy in schools, however, has not taken root.It is time for controlled research and documentation on the application of art therapy in schools. Relevant outcome criteria on the effectiveness of art therapy in treating students and the cause of participation on a schools team should be reported. (Bush, 1997a, p. 13) The Dade County art therapy program is a model program, which can serve to inspire future development of similar school-based art therapy programs. Art therapy in a school-based setting can provide at-risk children with an outlet to work through obstacles that are hindering their educational, emotional, and social gr owth.Conclusion behavioural science research has focused on the psychological, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive problems that children exposed to chronic stress and violence face. Research in this area has become increasingly prolific as the rates of violence and risk of motion-picture show increases. This is especially true in large urban cities where the prevalence rate of urban youth exposed to violence and chronic stress is rapidly increasing. There are many factors in the lives of impoverished black children that lead to chronic stress.Rutter (1978) identified half a dozen significant familial stressors that increased the opportunity of behavioral disorders among children. They are (a) the father having an semiskilled(prenominal)/semiskilled job, (b) overcrowding in the home or a large family size, (c) the mother throe from depression or a mental case disorder, (d) the child having ever been in care, (e) the father having been convicted of any offense against the law, and (f) marital discordance (Rutter, 1978). Other researchers examined binary stressors on school-aged childrens psychological functioning parental conflict, agnate depression, overcrowding, and family income.Shaw and Emery found that cumulative family stressors predicted clinically-elevated child behavior problems and below-average ratings of childrens IQ and perceived social competence (1988, p. 204). The research suggests there is a significant relationship between movie to chronic stress, crime, and violence and behavioral, psychological, and academic problems. It is necessary to then take the next step and focus on ways in which to ameliorate these negative effects. Traditionally, psychological services of art therapy have been provided in hospitals, community mental health centers, and private offices.There are, however, numerous factors that impede the ability of at-risk children from getting these needed services that are often provided outside their community. School- based interventions in art therapy can provide one solution to this problem. School-based therapeutic interventions have been effective in helping children to deal with the emotional repercussions of living with multiple stressors. By addressing common problems in a novel way, school-based art therapy therapy opens the doors to many children who otherwise would not receive the needed therapeutic help.The children are in their schools everyday, so why not bring the service to them. burden literature supports the notion that school-based intervention programs in art therapy can yield to positive outcomes in the lives of children.References Art therapy Definition of profession. (1998, Summer). American Art Therapy Association Newsletter, 31, 3. Avidar, A. (1995). Art therapy and permeant trauma Working with children in violent communities. Pratt Institute Creative Arts Therapy Review, 16, 10-16. Bush, J. (1997a).The development of school art therapy in Dade County public schools Impl ications for future change. Art Therapy journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 14(l 9-14. Bush, J. (1997b). The handbook of school art therapy. Springfield, IL Charles C Thomas. Essex, M. , Frostig, K. , & Hertz, J. (1996). 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