Getting help for your addiction is the best thing you will ever do for yourself and the people who love you. Your addiction treatment must include a mix of therapies, such as art therapy, to help you gain your most complete recovery. These therapies help you learn new things about yourself. They also open doors to new hobbies at the same time.
Types of Art Therapy
In art therapy, you use your imagination and creativity to create art. The purpose of this creative effort is in healthily expressing yourself, using methods besides verbal communication. In turn, your art says things to and for you that you do not convey in words.
Types of art you use in this therapy can include painting, sculpting, drawing, acting, dancing, music, poetry or other methods. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, art group therapies help people express new thoughts and feelings. This proves particularly helpful for people with a past of trauma.
Creating many types of art does not use words. This expands your options for communication. It also allows you to explore, understand and fix issues you do not feel ready to disclose to others through language. Sometimes you even find meaning in your art for problems you have yet to acknowledge yourself fully.
Methods of Art Therapy and How They Help
Three methods of therapy using art commonly take place in drug or alcohol treatment. These three methods include Gestalt, Active imagination and the “third hand” approach.
The Gestalt approach involves the therapist helping you work through your feelings and past experiences. The art acts as an in-depth conversation starter, allowing you to explain your thoughts by describing your artwork.
Active imagination involves making art while letting your mind roam. You use free association to create the work. It’s through the interpretation of your art that you look deeper inside yourself and gain access to your feelings.
The third-hand approach involves the therapist helping you create your art. You control the creative vision. But you guide the therapist in actually making the art.
These art therapy methods prove useful for most people, especially in addiction treatment. You understand yourself better as a result and start coping with your addiction. Through art, you explore new parts of your life that might otherwise be left unexplored.
Art also works as a group activity. In a group therapy setting, it brings you closer to your peers and helps you understand each others’ journeys. In the future outside of rehab, art provides a great coping skill for relapse prevention.
The Therapies and Treatments You Need at Morningside Recovery
Quality rehab programs provide a solid mix of varied addiction therapy services. Through such a combination, you explore yourself from multiple angles and using different methods. The mix of therapies and programs provided by Morningside Recovery in Orange County, CA include:
- Detox, residential rehab, and IOP
- Behavioral therapy and individual counseling
- Group and family therapy
- Art, music, yoga and drum circle therapy
- Tai chi, acupuncture and sweat lodge therapy
- Hiking, kayaking, beach meditation and camping therapy
- Skiing and snowboarding
Treatment at Morningside Recovery provides new challenges for your best journey of personal discovery and understanding. You learn about your addiction and yourself as you build coping skills, life skills, communication, and relationships.
For the help you or someone you love need for strong, lifelong sobriety, call Morningside Recovery in Orange County, California. Through art therapy and other methods, you can build a new, fresh sense of self. So call Morningside Recovery now at 855-631-2135.