Magdalene Jeyarathnam, who has been practising art therapy for 23 years, recalls asking one of her clients to answer the question ‘Where are you in your life?’ visually. Easing expressingWhen there is a behavioural issue, traumatic memory or difficulty regulating emotions, art therapy can help. “Everything from the colours they use, to the pressure of the brush on paper, tells a lot about their state of mind,” says art therapist Victoria Niveditha, art and creative movement psychotherapist, based in Chennai. Even activities like colouring, zentangling and doodling have a meditative effect, “but psychology works on much deeper emotional and relational levels. A trained art therapist might use colouring pages to calm a person in a specific session, but it is not a replacement for the psychological process of therapy.”

Source: The Hindu July 17, 2017 06:00 UTC