Everyone fighting depression knows that it can be a challenging health condition. If you are experiencing it, or you had it in the past then you know that it feels excruciating to complete some basic tasks, and most of the time you feel power drained and apathetic. Simple tasks like dusting the furniture, preparing meals, and taking your dog for a walk can seem daunting. Medications and talk therapy are some of the most common solutions but they are not the only ones. Art therapy is another effective way to relieve depression symptoms because it supports you in exploring your feelings via your senses. Art creation may not be a conventional treatment solution but it can achieve the same results as talk therapy because it involves all your body not just your intellect.

It’s understandable that you don’t feel comfortable to talk to a stranger about your feelings and darkest emotions. You prefer to supress your emotions and to put on a blank canvas when you are spending time with your family and friends. But your inner turmoil doesn’t go away and you need to find a way to relieve it. But if you use art therapy to fight depression you don’t have to use words to share your emotions, a blank canvas is everything you need, it will give voice to your pain, dark emotions and the images you create will become words for you.

The simple act of moving the brush on the canvas will help you bring light to your inner darkness, and to release depression. Just because no one can hear your words, and you don’t share your emotions with someone, it does not mean that you cannot reveal them through painting or another art form. Art therapy can support you when words are not enough to heal your soul.

Sometimes all you need is to build a communication bridge between you and your therapist. You can use your art to come to terms with what you are feeling, and to help your therapist understand your inner state better. Depression can make you feel numb or incapable to feel emotions. If you set free your creativity, you will release your emotions and you will support your capacity to feel again. Once you create a painting, you externalize a part of your emotions and you create something tangible and concrete. It makes easier for you to acknowledge your emotions and to recognise their existence.

Sometimes it’s easier for you to deny that you have these dark emotions, but by seeing your work you will face the truth, you need to fight your mental health problem. When you create art, you feel a sense of relief or a movement of your depression especially when you transfer your inner feelings onto the canvas.

For many people depression is a disorientating, isolating and painful experience. If you feel the same then your emotions have probably robbed you of your feelings and they removed your capacity to feel joy. Depression can remove you from the things that sustained you in the past.

You may be tempted to use some type of drug to regain your joyful state but it only accentuates your depression. Drugs can have a daunting effect on depression and it can boost the intensity of the dark emotions you are experiencing. If you have started using drugs with the hope to fight depression you should seek professional help because they only worsen your state. Find a program that offers rehab for drug addicts and let experts to support you in your fight with depression and addiction. Art therapy can help you relieve depression, but it cannot help you stay away from drugs.

Depression, most of the times is about destruction, destruction of emotions, functionality, and sense of self. Art therapy offers you the opportunity to push against destruction and to immerse yourself in something creative. Studies show that art making can have a profound influence on your physical and psychological wellbeing. It’s about putting your emotions into the artwork than sharing them with someone. Painting helps you share your emotions in a way that doesn’t upset you. Once you will draw your emotions you will feel easier to talk to your therapist about your thoughts.  

  

Art therapy is not a standalone treatment for depression, and you should look for ways to integrate it into a more complex program. You should consult your doctor to help you find an effective way to incorporate it within a wider range of therapeutic interventions. Art therapy should not be considered the be-all and end-all for mental health challenges, being they depression or another type of condition. It can help you improve your state, but it’s important to do it under professional supervision and combined with other treatments.

Art cannot be used as an instrument to instantly cure your depression; it can correct, restore, heal and resolve your health needs. It is an instrument that can help you improve your psychological wellbeing and health, and it can guide you in the right direction.

It is important to identify the main types of creative therapy. Art therapy can be conducted in group, family, couples or individual settings. All these types of therapy allow you to express yourself and find more about your feelings. You can try art therapy like sculpting, painting and drawing. But you can also try dance or movement therapy, music therapy, or drama therapy.

Art therapy is not just for artists and creative people, it for people of all ages, coming from any type of background.

You can find a program that uses creative art therapy to fight depression in outpatient centres, hospitals, private centres, and other institutions that offer depression treatment. Ask your doctor if they can recommend a centre that uses it to help people relieve depression.