Creative and Expressive Arts Therapy bridges the mind-body nexus of mental healthcare through the purposeful and playful use of the arts to support strength-based prognosis in rehabilitative care.
This growing profession, rooted in evidence-based use of arts, is making significant scientific strides in mental healthcare. Trained professionals tap into the core of creativity, imagination, and spontaneity to enable our strengths and empower individuals/groups/systems to work with challenges from a renewed perspective and a core of empathy.
A study from Washington University School of Medicine (April 2023) suggested that the mind-body connection is embedded within the brain’s network. It found that “brain areas controlling movement are linked to networks involved in thinking, planning, and regulating involuntary functions like heart rate, and digestion.” This has been found via fMRI scans of children and animals.
The complex interrelationship between our mind and our body directly correlates with psychosomatic symptoms like headaches, fatigue,...
