Creative therapy: specialists & information

What is creative therapy?

Creative therapy is a special form of psychotherapeutic therapy. It incorporates creative media into the treatment of mental or psychosomatic illnesses. This can include artistic and performing activities.

Creative therapies have both diagnostic and psychotherapeutic aspects. The aim is to promote emotionality and expression.

Body-related methods have become established in practice, i.e.

• body, movement and dance therapy,
• creative therapy, art therapy and music therapy.

Creative therapy

Creative therapy is distinguished from occupational therapy. The aim of occupational therapy is

• the restoration of lost skills or the preservation of existing skills,
• practicing existing knowledge and skills, and
• the promotion of everyday activities.

Art and design therapies, on the other hand, aim to understand intrapsychic conflictual processes.

Design, and artistic design in particular, is used very frequently. Both the process of creation and the product of creation (e.g. pictures, clay figures) play an equally important role.

Creative therapy is psychotherapy with creative means. Through the creative means, people find a connection to themselves. Design promotes ego functions and serves to analyze interactional processes.

Body, movement and dance therapy

Body, movement and dance therapies have been highly differentiated since the 1920s. A distinction is made between

• therapies with a more functional-exercise orientation and
• therapies with a more conflict-oriented, uncovering focus.

Body therapies are a central component of inpatient psychotherapy. They take the form of concentrative movement therapy and functional relaxation, for example, as well as dance therapy.

The body-related methods of creative therapy are intended to help integrate the body experience into the overall life of the personality.

In detail, it is about

• Experiences with body boundaries,
• the attitude towards one's own body and
• body satisfaction with regard to motor skills and body-related characteristics,

in the interactive and circular process between therapist and patient.

The aim is to develop the body-self as an integral part of the overall self. The patient learns to be able to move on different levels of body experience in the process of therapeutic communication.

Music therapy

Music therapy is the targeted therapeutic use of music to achieve therapeutic goals. As a creative treatment method, it is process- and experience-oriented. The aims of music therapy are

• to restore, maintain and promote mental and physical health,
• the promotion of self-perception and the perception of others,
• the promotion of communication, expression and concentration skills.

Music therapy gives patients the opportunity to better understand themselves and their environment. They learn to move more freely and effectively within it and to develop better mental stability.

Playful experimentation with sounds, melodies and rhythms can also promote the expression and perception of emotions. It is also possible to perceive and reflect on one's own behavior through interaction.

Music therapy can be described as

• receptive music therapy (listening to sound material) and
• as active, expressive music therapy (making music)

is used. The most important method used in music therapy is joint free or structured improvisation. The aim is to awaken resources, observe processes and make new experiences by perceiving, listening and responding to one another. Next come

• Perception and mindfulness exercises,
• musical interaction exercises,
• singing songs and
• listening to music

are used in music therapy.

The shared experiences can be exchanged and reflected on during the music therapy session. A prerequisite for participation is the patient's willingness to engage in music therapy. This requires an interest in trying out/playing the instruments and experimenting with rhythms, sounds and melodies.

However, musicality, reading music, mastery of an instrument etc. is not necessary for participation in music therapy.

Art therapy

Art therapy is similar to music therapy in many respects, but art therapy uses visual art as its medium. Art therapy is also intended to train self-perception as well as the ability to express oneself and concentrate.

Working with colors or other materials is completely unfamiliar to most patients. This allows them to discover resources and gain new experiences.

Art therapy is a form of creative therapy © Kostiantyn | AdobeStock

Individual work in art therapy often focuses on the artistic creation of inner processes that are related to the illness. For example, patients with severe childhood trauma often find it difficult to put into words and confide in their therapist. In art therapy, they can express their impressions in pictures.

The content can also be incorporated into psychotherapy through creative representation. In addition, the works of art produced by patients in the course of art therapy often reflect their inner development and recovery process.

In addition to individual work, art therapy is often also carried out in groups. The aim here is usually primarily to follow the creative process and to communicate about this process. An individual patient's part in the group's creative process often provides metaphors for typical problems or characteristics of this or other group participants.

The Waldau psychiatric clinic (1921) of the schizophrenic Adolf Wölfli | Source: Wikimedia

Differences between creative therapy and occupational therapy

Art therapy and occupational therapy sometimes merge seamlessly. Occupational therapy also uses colors and materials for design as well as reflection on the works in therapeutic discussions.

Overall, however, the focus of occupational therapy, as opposed to art therapy, is more on building skills and everyday abilities. It is less concerned with promoting creative expression per se.