Art therapy and expressive therapies

Those interested in the field of art therapy will encounter for sure in their research the term ”expressive therapy”, used either as a substitute for ”art therapy” or with its own meaning, a wider one. So, what is the connection between art therapy and expressive therapies? For clarification, a bit of semantics is needed.

The word “art” may be used in two ways: with a more restricted meaning, encompassing just visual arts (drawing, painting, sculpture) and with a wider meaning, which includes all the arts: music, dance, theatre, movie etc.

The concept of ”art therapy” was first used during the ’50’s, and the first artistic activities used in psychotherapy belonged to visual arts. In the ’70’s other forms of artistic activities started to be used, and these were gathered under the coverage of a single concept – expressive therapies. That does not mean we have to approach them undifferentiated: it is appropriate to speak about dance therapy, music therapy, psychodrama therapy and so on. 

It is interesting, however, that a unifying concept was needed – expressive therapies, a concept which has brought together several arts. It means that, at least regarding the therapeutic effect of the arts, there are some common elements, elements that clearly differentiate expressive therapies from traditional forms of therapy, those that rely on verbal communication. But what are these differences?

Firstly, compared to verbal therapies, in expressive therapies the patient is an active factor in his healing. He doesn’t just passively talk about what happened to him or what he feels, instead he has to do something, a physical action: sing, dance, draw, molding clay models, etc.

Secondly, to achieve this, he must use his senses and his body. He has to live a very concrete sensory experience, often accompanied by affective states that are only possible in that context of experience. And it is very important that the body is also involved in the healing process because, in the end, any problem or suffering is felt at the bodily level, it is not something abstract.

And, last but not least, specific to expressive therapies is…expressiveness. Anyone who performs an artistic activity engages, consciously or not, in a very powerful form of communication. It is a vivid, sensorial and personal communication. It is a communication directed not only to those around, but also a communication with oneself,  through which the artist can give form and meaning to feelings and experiences that are difficult or impossible to verbalize.

But let’s go back where we started, to the terminology; we can use the term “art therapy” in the more narrow sense, which includes only the visual arts, or we can include all arts and in this case we also include “expressive therapies”. Personally, I prefer the broader meaning, so when I refer to “art therapy,” I include all of them, as when I wrote the article What is art therapy?. But whatever the terminology, the important thing is that we can use art, in its many forms, to make life better.

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