Crafts, art and dancing at home can be very beenficial for your mental, physical and emotional health. When conventional treatments and medications leave gaps in the road to mental and emotional health, the use of art in all its forms can step in and change the picture. Heightening the senses, encouraging free expression and offering hours of fulfilment, art therapy is making inroads into the way medical professionals help their patients. Who better to bring us up to date than Psychotherapist and Expressive Arts Therapist Suzan Radwan?
CWM: What forms does expressive arts therapy embrace?
SR: We have visual arts, music therapy, drama therapy, storytelling, creative writing and dance and movement therapy. There are other forms, but these are really the main categories for expressive therapies. With visual art therapy we have painting, drawing, clay work and sculpture, collages and anything involving crafts like knitting. The application of art therapy began a long time ago; the psychoanalytical school first pioneered image analysis and to this day there are universities and institutes, mainly in Europe, that follow this approach.
Cognitive –Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has used various art forms in its techniques and treatments, including those for recovering addicts, but today’s trend is towards the humanistic school, as taught by the Prairie Institute of Expressive Arts Therapy in Canada, where the artistic process and the client’s own reflections on it are the main focus.
5 Benefits of Art Therapy
- There is a reduced likelihood of a person creating diversions as in talk therapy, as art therapy gets to the point. Even though the focus is on the process, often we see a person’s artistic skills develop during therapy sessions.
- They create a space for the client or patient to move in comfortably, without having to talk about things they do not want to discuss or are not ready to face. It is less confrontational or invasive. Talk therapy can sometimes regenerate the trauma, so it can be negative and draining.
- Art therapy sessions are more cathartic and energizing, they play a lot more on the imagination, creating what is known in art therapy as an ‘alternative world’ experience
- A basic principle in art therapy is ‘play’, so it is a lot more fun than traditional sessions.
- Compared to other forms of clinical psychotherapy, talk therapy, coaching and counseling, art therapy is much more organic, spontaneous and natural.
What results have been observed in the various forms of art therapy? Music therapy has been one of the easiest forms to track results in, there is a lot of evidence based material to support this. Results even go so far as to indicate improvement in the immunity system through expressive arts therapy. Data shows that therapists using expressive arts come to a quicker and often more satisfactory resolution with their patients than those depending exclusively on talk therapy. In the case of recovering addicts, it has been helpful in prognosis, as well as anticipating any relapses. 
How is art therapy currently being integrated into the medical/well-being system in Egypt? Currently, I am working with children in the Children’s Cancer Hospital.
The hospital has been compiling cases for the last five years, in the hopes of doing a study and publishing a paper with their findings and now a whole department has been set up for this.
Art therapy is part of the treatment program in many local hospitals, mental health clinics and half-way houses. The first Art Therapy post graduate diploma was made available through the College of Art Education in Zamalek.
There is professional training going on in the various clinics, including a Canadian Art Therapy supported program being held at Aboul Azaim Hospital. Looking forward, there are hopes that an Egyptian Association of Art Therapists can be formed, as every culture has its local sensitivities. This way, more training programs can be implemented to broaden the reach of art therapy and its benefits to the community.
Suzan Radwan is an Expressive Art Therapist and Art Psychoanalyst who currently works as an Expressive Arts Therapist and Program Coordinator with the Children’s Cancer Hospital, in addition to running a private art studio in Maadi.
Contact Details:
Tel: 0100 660 4271 Email: radwan.suzan@gmail.com Facebook: erhasat.elfarqella
