Art Therapy generally has been found to be a useful method for psychotherapeutic work. Not only does it encompass less threatening, non-verbal techniques with patients that have profound difficulty verbalizing their feelings and thoughts; it can be used to open and expand verbal communication, as well (Crespo, 183). Art therapy, originally conceived by Edith Kramer, is meant to function as a way of supporting ego functioning by enhancing a sense of identity and self-esteem and in the process, fostering maturation in the patient. In other words, Art therapy complements or supports psychotherapy but does not replace it. Art therapy sessions, in short, are geared to reality-testing, which emphasizes mediating secondary process mechanisms of the ego rather than the primary cognitive processes found in free spontaneous drawings (Crespo, 183). The following research will look into Art therapy and how it affects different illnesses.
From the earliest days of psychoanalysis, the making......
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