History Art Therapy is still relatively new. The Swiss Psychoanalysist Carl Jung used painting and modeling to help patients express their inner-most feelings. It was Jung's work that inspired British born Irene Champernawne to set up a centre for 'Psychotherapy through the Arts'. Irene was a psychotherapist and her husband, who helped her run the centre, was an art teacher. Art therapy as also used in mental hospitals and Freudian psychoanalysists used the pictures as clues to what was going on in the patient s minds.
Art therapy is used to help people with emotional problems.
It helps them express their deepest thoughts and feeling visually. Group art therapy is recommended for people who have difficulty relating to others, or people with physical or mental handicaps that interfere with communication. Those with a low opinion of themselves can gain confidence throughout therapy. It is also useful to those suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction, anorexia and bulimia. The basis of art therapy is that people draw pictures, paint or make models.