Exploring Modern-day Creative Therapies in .NET framework

Making QR-Code in .NET framework Exploring Modern-day Creative Therapies

The formal use of creative traditions in a therapeutic way has developed in the last 100 years or so to the point where creative therapists, such as music, art, or drama therapists, are now well-established Each tradition has its own special features, which I tell you about one by one, going in alphabetical order Art therapy Bibliotherapy Colour therapy (including aura-soma)

Dance therapy Dramatherapy (psychodrama) Feng shui and geomancy Light therapy Music therapy Play therapy Sound therapy

The use of art (painting, drawing, collage making, sculpture, clay modelling, and so on) to promote physical, mental, and emotional well-being developed partly from the work of Rudolf Steiner (see the nearby sidebar Anthroposophical medicine ) and of European psychoanalysts and psychotherapists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Melanie Klein (see 21 for more on psychological therapies) and also from the work of the American educator/therapist sisters, Margaret Naumburg and Florence Cane The term art therapy is credited to the UK artist Adrian Hill, who used art to aid the healing of himself and his fellow inmates while in a sanatorium with tuberculosis in the 1940s

Producing artwork is said to enable difficult or suppressed emotions to be safely expressed Art therapists are trained in psychology, imagery, symbolism, and non-verbal communication to facilitate exploration of difficult issues and an increase in self-awareness

Art therapy is found in schools, clinics, hospitals, prisons, rehabilitation centres, and so on and has been used to aid a wide range of mental, emotional, and physical imbalances and also as a form of stress relief or a self-development tool The good news is that you don t have to have any specific artistic talent to benefit from this therapy!

Art therapy is now an accepted profession in several countries, including the UK and US It has been studied extensively and appears to be helpful in various contexts, such as helping children with behavioural or emotional problems, assisting adults with relationship issues, and aiding people with addictions and mental health problems

British and American art therapy associations have been in operation since the 1960s, and offer a wealth of information: British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT): wwwbaatorg American Art Therapy Association (AATA): wwwarttherapyorg In the UK, art therapy has been registered as a Profession Supplementary to Medicine in the NHS since 1997 A recognised training and membership of the BAAT are a requirement for employment Within NHS settings, art therapy is free but some art therapists also work privately Art therapy is also offered as part of anthroposophical medicine

The roots of bibliotherapy are unknown but it seems to have grown out of psychotherapist Anna Freud s work on play therapy (discussed later in this chapter) Bibliotherapy involves the use of literature (normally books, but nowadays also writing, film, theatre, and so on) in a therapeutic way to help resolve trauma or emotional problems

Rudolf Steiner, a highly innovative philosopher and educator, whose work spanned the fields of medicine, education, agriculture, culture and spiritual thought in the 20th-century, coined the term anthroposophy, to describe a new form of spiritual science Steiner believed that medicine should treat not only the physical body but also the subtle bodies described by esotericists of his time, namely the etheric, or energetic body; the astral, or unconscious body; and the ego, or consciousness body He believed that these aspects of the self could be reached through creative therapies such as art and movement and could be treated via homeopathic and herbal remedies He also believed in the power of wholesome food and a healthy lifestyle, and he advocated biodynamic gardening, that is, planting and harvesting according to the cycles of the moon In fact, he believed that cosmic cycles had a profound effect on all life forms, influencing not only plant growth and potency but also human thought and feeling Steiner s anthroposophical clinics, schools, and medicines are popular even today although critics argue that there is no scientific validation for his approach