1. Lindsay Wynett
Mrs.Lester
Advanced Composition
10 October 2011
What Effect Does Art Therapy Have on Children?
Who would think that doing art work was a form of therapy? Art therapy is a great therapeutic
device that children can use. Many children who are abused, mentally handicapped or
traumatized can benefit from art therapy. These children use art work to show their true emotions
and let all of their feelings out without having to say a single word. Therefore, why do so many
parents question the use of art therapy? For art therapies to have a positive effect on children,
their parents must be willing to try this innovative approach.
Art therapy is now a recognized as a means of therapy for the emotional and psychotic issues
that children face today. Art therapy is a form of counseling that helps children deal with their
problems (Wolfe). Those children who are going though a tough time and need someone or
something to help them let their emotions out. These children deserve the help from some form
of counseling. This type of therapy will help the children deal with a situation more easier. This
is only possible if they can have a place to go to be able to express themselves. Art Therapy
encourages children to show their emotions through artistic expression and through a creative
process (Pledge). Although expressing oneself to a person he or she does not even know can be

2. hard for anyone to do, especially those children who have been abused and are afraid to say a
word to anyone. However there is hope for those children though the use of art therapy. They can
express themselves and not have to say a word. Art therapy is a therapy technique that its goal is
to reduce depression, anxiety, sexual trauma, and low self esteem (Teglbjaerg). The outcome of
participating in art therapy has shown to decrease depression which makes them happy, healthy
children. Another effect of this therapy is that they will have a higher self esteem. Without this
therapy in their lives there would be no improvement in these children's well being.
The impact that art therapy has on the children's lives is huge including an improvement in ones
sense of self. One important aspect of doing art therapy is that trust a is built between the art
therapist and the child. Their needs to be a bond between the two before the child will allow the
therapist to see their true feelings and emotions. Trusting someone with your inner thoughts even
through a form of art work can be very hard ( Manso and Rambles).Without trust the child will
not express their feelings and continue to keep it all inside because they are afraid to show
anyone who they really are. The key to letting them show this emotional side in themselves is the
trust factor. There must be a form trust between each other; otherwise they would continue to
keep their thoughts hidden. However art therapists try to provide secure care to the patient, so
they feel comfortable and more relaxed (Smeijsters). These children who are dealing with a
traumatic issue need a safe secure environment in which to express themselves. These patients
are also very fragile and conservative with their emotions being known public, so having security
is a must. In a study done with severe schizophrenia patients and non-psychotic psychiatric
patients with depression and/or personality disorders had a one-year follow-up which showed the
effects the therapy had on them (Teglbjaerg).The patients appeared to have a better sense of self,

3. and appeared to be a lot happier. Overall involving a child in some form of an art therapy
program would help them to become more mentally healthy.
Why are all these benefits from art therapy unknown to most parents? The problem that
parents have with involving their child in art therapy is they do not think that their child will trust
a stranger or for that matter any human being with their feelings. However, children use art
therapy to treat themselves when dealing with a bad situation and turning it into an easier one
using this as a healing process (Wolfe). Those children who are scared to speak about their
feelings however, can express themselves with no words, just through their own pieces of art
work. Before this is even possible the therapist must believe in what the children have to say or
create otherwise they will not come to them for help when discussing their feeling (Manso and
Raukes). So believe what they have to say no matter how strange it may be. In return the child
will pick up on the fact that someone believed in them and has trusted them which makes to have
a better relationship for it. If parents even knew how big of an effect art therapy has on the
happiness and well-being of their child, then they would most certainly consider using it.
What most people may not know is that art therapy is easier to find then one parent may think.
Art therapy is an inexpensive, and easy for everyone to use. This way many people will be able
to experience it without the price being an issue for those who do not have that much money it is
less of a burden than other therapies(Szegedy-Maszak). Overall it is all about doing the art work
and mentally getting well is the main goal. Some parents may think that because art therapy is in
fact a form of therapy there will be a need for prescriptions. However, unlike going to another

4. form of therapy unlike the others, when dealing with art therapy there is no need for
prescriptions at all. This way there is no hassle to pay for a prescription and have one less worry
about what medication to take. The outcome that art therapy has on the patients is proven to be
life changing. Participants of art therapy have been shown to strengthen their minimal sense of
self (Rappaport).
The overall outcome from doing art therapy is a very positive one. Doing art work for anyone is
a form of showing your own freedom of expression and helps greatly with the healing process.
One of the best things about creating art is that no one can be told a certain way how to do their
own project and the fact that there are no high expectations that many children may be
accustomed to (Henk). This is very relieving for them to be able to do whatever they want and
however they would like and no one piece of work can be recreated or copied so every piece is
unique in its own way. Also many children love to do some form of art work to show off how
creative they are. Their own piece of art work can show many things about the artist's
personality, creativity. The outcome that art therapy has on the patients is very positive to build
on their inner self and to become more confident. This is shown to strengthen the patient’s
minimal sense of self. Self-Expression requires a medium that the artist must have. Having a
happy medium means to be happy and content. While showing their feelings on their own piece
of work, gives them a natural release from all of these negative emotions and lets them focus on
something else for a change. Overall, art therapy helps out a lot for children to have a source of
self-expression for once and a way to escape the everyday problems they may face as an
individual and just go into another atmosphere to express themselves however they want.

5. For art therapy to have a positive effect on children, but their parents must be willing to try this
innovative approach. Art therapy helps the children more than anyone could ever imagine for;
example the children from the parents who were lost on September 11, 2001 have used art
therapy to heal. They used art therapy to help them heal and it helped so much. Art therapy has
helped 5,000 family members since 2001, “some children are only just beginning to open up
about losing their parents” (Bruton). As anyone can see, there is proof that art therapy can help
children in tough situations, or children that have mental disabilities to express their emotions
freely through their own art work.