Many people have found freedom from the bonds of drug and alcohol addiction. But others find it difficult to talk about their substance abuse and its causes, which prevents them from seeking help. Fortunately, treatment is available to help you communicate even when the words won’t come. Diamond House Detox offers art therapy for addiction that has helped many clients throughout northern California find healing using non-verbal techniques.
Contact UsArt therapy is a type of expressive therapy that uses art to help clients access their difficult emotions. Unlike traditional behavioral therapies, expressive therapy doesn’t focus on changing the person’s actions through incentives. Instead, it helps the person express themselves — both during and outside of treatment — in a healthy way.
Specifically, art therapy helps clients explore issues they might not feel comfortable talking about out loud, allowing them to use paintings or pictures for the expression. Art therapists encourage their clients to use their imagination to communicate their feelings, self-image and life experiences in an artistic form so that they can later talk about these images and their meanings.
During an art therapy session, you’ll be given a wide array of art supplies, such as:
Your therapist may ask you to draw a self-portrait or paint a picture of your current emotions. You can use whatever tools and style you’d like to create your image — there’s no right or wrong way to express yourself. Then, you and your therapist might discuss common symbols or meanings in your work and how these symbols relate to your life experiences. As you work through several therapy sessions, you might compare your new artwork to earlier pieces to view your progress visually.
While detoxification is an incredible achievement for any person with an addiction, many people still feel discouraged that they can’t see any physical proof of their success. Art therapy for addiction offers a way for you to physically see the results you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Seeing tangible signs of progress can be immensely rewarding for many people overcoming their long-time addictions.
Also, many people with addictions feel shame or struggle with painful thoughts during their recovery. You might not feel comfortable sharing these private thoughts with your therapist right away — or maybe you’re not even sure how to put these thoughts into words. Art therapy offers an alternative way to express your emotions surrounding your addiction. With the help of your therapist, you may even discover new beliefs you never knew you had. This freedom leads many people struggling with substance abuse toward feelings of pride and self-acceptance.
Art therapy can help nearly anyone with addictions — or any emotional challenges in general — express their struggles. We recommend this treatment to people of all walks of life. However, some groups of people are particularly suited to an art therapy treatment plan.
People who were abused as children can especially benefit from art therapy. These experiences are often too horrible or complex to communicate in words, so many people feel trapped and unable to express their emotions even if they want to. Art therapy offers a safe way for people suffering from the effects of abuse to communicate these issues. Trained art therapists can identify common symbols to guess about what happened, allowing the client to reveal their past indirectly.
At Diamond House Detox, we’re committed to providing our guests with safe, innovative ways to gain freedom from their addictions. Inpatient art therapy for addiction at our Sacramento detox center provides a comfortable environment and process for healing. To find out if our residential treatment facility is right for you, contact us online or call (888) 205-9455.
