art therapy

noun

: therapy based on engagement in artistic activities (such as painting or drawing) as a means of creative expression and symbolic communication especially in individuals affected with a mental or emotional disorder or cognitive impairment

She's also used art therapy while working with autistic and special-needs children and patients recovering from strokes.

—Cheryl Powell

In art therapy, patients express their feelings not just through discussion, but through drawing, painting and sculpting. That's why this type of therapy is thought to be especially helpful for people who have difficulty articulating feelings—including children and those suffering from Alzheimer's disease, strokes and post-traumatic stress disorder.

—Jenny Hontz

art therapist noun

plural art therapists

Although she works toward the same goals as the psychologist or psychiatrist, as an art therapist her technique is decidedly different.

—Sharon L. Bass

Examples of art therapy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts launched a comprehensive art therapy and education wing in 2017. —Colette Davidson, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Feb. 2024

Additional therapies including art therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy will be available soon. —Jessica Van Egeren, Journal Sentinel, 12 Mar. 2024

Whether your chronic illness is a mental condition itself or requires managing your mental health in some other way, art therapy can be an awesome method of doubling up on self-care and creative play. —Anna Borges, SELF, 12 Feb. 2024

The 26-year-old jazz band manager and art therapy consultant was not one of them. —Christian Shepherd, Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2024

Others sent art supplies or signed up to help during a Monday night art therapy program at a homeless shelter. —Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 31 Jan. 2024

And the less said about Marc’s journey, the better, art therapy being much lower on the list of acceptable rom-com clichés than zippy one-liners or a City of Lights backdrop. —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan. 2024

Each building would host a handful of patients for about six weeks at a time, with music and art therapy and organic meals cooked on-site — for as much as $2,000 a day. —Teo Armus, Washington Post, 12 Sep. 2023

The company’s mission is to empower women through dignified work, and the sale of each piece supports art therapy ministry and the women who hand make each piece. —Rebecca Jones, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

art therapy

noun

: therapy based on engagement in artistic activities (as painting or drawing) as a means of creative expression and symbolic communication especially in individuals affected with a mental or emotional disorder or cognitive impairment

In art therapy, patients express their feelings not just through discussion, but through drawing, painting and sculpting. That's why this type of therapy is thought to be especially helpful for people who have difficulty articulating feelings—including children and those suffering from Alzheimer's disease, strokes and post-traumatic stress disorder.

—Jenny Hontz, The Los Angeles Times

art therapist noun