Therapeutic Painting

In the quest to achieve inner balance, therapeutic drawing and painting serve as an intensive process of self-examination on the part of the patient. At the same time, the patient's mental engagement with shapes and colours offers an opportunity to influence the vital functions of the body.
The various materials used include brush and paints, chalks, charcoal, pencils and paper. A patient's memories, past, hopes for the future, or awareness of the present can be evoked in the creation of shapes and colours, spaces and lines, light and shadow, the use of pastel crackles, and light or dark brushstrokes. These are then reflected in various ways in the newly created image.
In this case, the way is the goal. In creating an image, the important thing is not to accurately reproduce a landscape or to depict an identical portrait. It is how the interaction of colour and form is perceived as a personal expression of feelings and moods. Drawing and painting can free the artist from past experiences, but they can also act as catalysts for things not yet realized, which are then introduced into consciousness and enacted through the activity of art itself.
The painted image also has a direct effect on the human organism. The following example shows precisely this: A Crohn's disease sufferer with chronic diarrhoea paints a blue, free-form picture using layers of liquid paint that form gradually emerging shapes. The image is allowed to dry. The patient then presents the various shapes using a coloured pen. This enhancement of the outlines morphs what was wet. The same process is reflected in the patient's bodily functions: although the intrinsic state of the body remains unchanged, the fluid contents in the intestines become more stable. Painting can therefore be seen as having a direct effect on bodily functions.
Depending on the material and method, painting can stimulate various processes. On the one hand, it promotes the imagination and strengthens the will. On the other hand, it is the painter who controls the paint, moves and shapes it. It is a process of give and take, compression and release, differentiation and connection, acceptance and decision, proximity and distance. At the same time the paint itself stimulates nobility or passion, heaviness or lightness, courage or restraint. By experiencing these internal opposites in rhythmic alternation, the patient can be helped to recognize and resolve any imbalances caused by the illness. Thus, a process of self-awareness is initiated, and behavioural tendencies and patterns come to light, not to mention here about unrecognized inhibitions and blockages that may be related to the sufferer's illness. The continuity of the therapeutic drawing and painting allows established patterns to be abandoned and transformed and also allows traumas to be overcome, even in children.