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Art as a Form of Therapy--Healthr ( 23 Jun 2020 )

In this interview with Healthr, an online wellness platform, we discussed the practice of expressive arts therapy, particularly illustrative arts and music therapy, and how this can nurture our creativity, self-discipline and more :)

In general, how does expressive arts used to help people heal?

Amy: Expressive arts utilises “art” as a channel, allowing individuals to express, connect and reconcile with oneself and other people in a safe and exciting way.

Hong Kong has a culture of nurturing our children to be creative since young; nowadays, almost all kids have art classes or instrument lessons! How does learning the arts before adolescence benefit children specifically?

Karen: Practicing instruments is like practising the mind. It is a process of practicing to be DISCIPLINED and to be RESPONSIBLE for self. It’s okay to have struggles towards instrumental practices sometimes. Adults can learn this emotion with the children, acknowledge and accept it (like in other struggles in real life situations). As children overcome the struggles and continue the practice, they then already develop the sense of SELF-RESPONSIBILITY.

In the self-disciplined instrumental practices, children will begin to find the joy of playing music. Children might also begin to connect personal emotion to the emotion of the music they play. Those pieces of music help them realise and express their own emotions. When they begin to enjoy communicating their own emotions in their music playing, they become CREATIVE.

Amy: Indeed, humans are born to be creative. Being “creative” doesn’t mean you have to be a musician, artist, poet or scientist. Creativity can be realized in daily life (for example problem solving) and life perspectives. Unfortunately, when becoming adolescents or adults, many of us begin to think that creativity is a property belonging only to that small group of “talented people”.

Mental health is about reaching an equilibrium of the left brain (the analytic, reasoning, language-math mind) and right brain (the emotional, intuitive mind, art). Early childhood (ages 3-8) and childhood (ages 8-11) stages are essential periods for the development of the EMOTIONAL SELF (including emotional regulation, empathy for others, etc). Hence, nurturing art awareness and practicing art helps children to develop the emotional self, maintain a balanced mind and serves as protective factors in the adolescent stage.