What is Expressive Therapy

Expressive Therapy is a type of therapy in which the therapist is trained to use art, dance, music, theater, or poetry as part of the therapeutic work with clients in order to help clients access emotions and to get in touch with deeper parts of themselves. Expressive Therapy, also known as Creative Arts Therapy, is based on Jungian depth psychology and the belief that each individual holds the answers to his or her own problems within. It is also based on the idea that the artistic process, in itself, performs a healing, integrative function for the psyche, as clients are often able to access parts of themselves not normally in conscious awareness as they engage in the creative process.

Expressive Therapy provides the means and support to express and explore thoughts and feelings through the use of art, dance, music, drama or writing, and is considered a nonverbal therapy in which the creative process is emphasized rather than the finished product. The process of making art or music, dancing or creative writing enables a person to access strong feelings, while the trained therapist helps the client to express and work through these feelings. According to the Sky Mountain Institute:

Expressive therapies provide a means for moving below the surface of the verbal, the known and the routinized into the multi-layered levels of the Self. By accessing the forms, symbols and information that emerge from the core of our individual experiences, the expressive arts provide space for the imagination and create a dialogue between inner and outer realities. These forms and symbols engage our capacity to make meaning, to heal and to grow in a direction consistent with our authentic self. Expressive Therapy touches the creative core and speeds up internal processing.

Mary Okin specializes in the use of art and dance therapy.

Dance Therapy*:

Dance therapy (also called dance/movement therapy) is the use of choreographed or improvised movement as a way of treating social, emotional, cognitive, and physical problems. Throughout the ages, people of many cultures have used dance to express powerful emotions, tell stories, treat illness, celebrate important events, and maintain communal bonds. Dance therapy harnesses this power of movement in a therapeutic setting and uses it to promote personal growth, health, and well-being.

Dance therapy is based on the premise that the body and mind are interconnected. Dance therapists believe that mental and emotional problems are often held in the body in the form of muscle tension and constrained movement patterns. Conversely, they believe that the state of the body can affect attitude and feelings, both positively and negatively.

Dance movements promote healing in a number of ways. Moving as a group brings people out of isolation, creates powerful social and emotional bonds, and generates the good feelings that come from being with others. Moving rhythmically eases muscular rigidity, diminishes anxiety, and increases energy. Moving spontaneously helps people learn to recognize and trust their impulses, and to act on or contain them as they choose. Moving creatively encourages self-expression and opens up new ways of thinking and doing. On a purely physical level, dance therapy provides the benefits of exercise: improved health, well-being, coordination, and muscle tone. On an emotional level, it helps people feel more joyful and confident, and allows them to explore such issues as anger, frustration, and loss that may be too difficult to explore verbally. On a mental level, dance therapy seeks to enhance cognitive skills, motivation, and memory.

Dance therapy has a broad range of health benefits. It has been demonstrated to be clinically effective at improving body image, self-esteem, attentiveness, and communication skills. It can also reduce stress, fears and anxieties, as well as lessen feelings of isolation, body tension, chronic pain, and depression. In addition it can enhance the functioning of the body's circulatory and respiratory systems.

The theory underlying dance therapy is that body movement reflects the inner state of the human, and that by moving the body within a guided therapeutic setting, a healing process begins. Emerging inner conflicts and issues from the unconscious to the consciousness of the person are addressed on all levels – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

*From Medicomm.net and Evelyn Defina, Wesley Institute for Ministry and the Arts as printed at Overseas.com.