Linda Lee Goldman
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Art and the Older Adult

3/5/2017

 

Using Art To Assist Your Aging Parents

Art making can be a wonderful way to stimulate, and transform boredom and complacency into aliveness and fun. One woman I worked with had just moved into a retirement community had this to say: 
“ Everything around here was so hum-drum—then I enrolled in the creative expression class---and now I feel like a teenager and I am 92!
If you have had no experience with art making—working with a trained art therapist can set you on the road to playfulness, joy and beauty. Doing art on your own may work for some, however there is an energy that transpires while doing it with group or even with  just one other person.
The Benefits of Art for Older Adults

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How and Why to Begin a Visual Journal

1/29/2017

 

14 Tips For Starting a Visual Journal

Using images to express and mark thoughts and feelings have been utilized since cave paintings and hieroglyphics found on cave walls throughout history.

Sometimes there are no words to adequately express the turmoil, joys, and the myriad of thoughts and feelings going through our head and hearts most the time.
creating a visual journal
Your journal can  be a place of solace, exploration, experimentation and freedom.

​Art materials, found objects, natural materials, memorabilia and life experiences will assist you express thoughts and feelings differently than in words.  Here are some suggestions for starting a visual journal.


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Manage Depression and Sadness through Art Making

1/7/2017

 

Art Making A Component to Consider
to help Manage Depression and Sadness

When  you are in the middle of depression a period of sadness, creating art for the first time may seem like an impossible over bearing task.

There are many benefits to creating art, and the end product doesn't need to be one. For some people doing art on your own can be a great outlet, for others it's more advantageous to have structured guidance.
Picture

Making Art on Your Own

If you are functioning well and able to work and manage the daily tasks of living then doing art on your own can be an added
bonus . Understanding and alleviating your depression can be accomplished as you make art on a daily basis. It is like having a pal to share your situation with who understands. It is having a visual “diary” to track your thoughts and feelings. In the process of doing this there is tremendous relief and understanding.

Using Art To Discover The Reasons for Sadness and Depression

Perhaps depression is sticking to you like glue and you don’t have a notion how to get unstuck. When someone is depressed or feeling sad, the underlying emotion that is tied to their depression may emerge in a helpful way during the art making process.

Art making can Uncover Hidden Emotions

This sometimes happens in a marriage that has gone sour.  Women often think they might be able to change things if only they would do things better. That they are the cause of all the discontent. The depression keeps the untold story alive. They may feel hurt and angry at being treated poorly by their spouse and feel disempowered to do any thing. Keeping a visual art journal can give you symbolic safety to tell your story.

Art Can Help You Feel in Control

The process of making art can begin to free you of the shrouding and at times isolating impact of depression. When you paint, you are in control of where the brush goes and what colors you use. Your lines shapes and colors become a satisfying way to express your emotions.

Art Can Help You Validate Thoughts and Feelings

In my experience what is the most helpful of all is the personal validation and soothing that happens when  you begin to get into a flow of putting paint or pastel onto a piece of paper. You may be able to attach special meaning as you ponder your creation. This  may happen instantaneously, or it may take a series of images to reach the core.
The “framing” of your thoughts and feelings in a visual way can warm your heart—especially when strong feelings have been frozen in depression.

Creating An Internal Map: Making art becomes the “key”

The process of making art for personal growth becomes a “key” of your
internal map.  The colors, images, or photo’s from a magazine or personal photo’s  you use have symbolic meaning .

Art Making: A Symbol System of Learning

Being able to ponder your image and the associations to it becomes a way to move through the fog or confusion around your depression.  Your art making becomes a symbol system of learning about you and a shifting of your mindset.
Your mindset may contain punishing never ending self deprecation that was a major part of your child hood.  Whatever the reason being depressed is a difficult state to live with. You can begin to see through the fog as you create images of soothing, coping, anger, and grief.  Coping strategies assist the recovery process.

Using Art to Manage Depression and Sadness

The Journey of Making Art becomes your Personal  Oasis

You don't need to feel artistic to use a visual resource for breaking through the cloud of depression. The focus is on the process of making art not the product. The purpose is to use art to soothe, discover and eventually come up with strategies that assist a sense of well being. Hopefully continuing to make art will be one of them!

As you begin the journey of making art it becomes your own personal  oasis.

Advantages of working with a trained art therapist

One of the advantages of working with a trained art therapist is having someone who begins to have an empathic understanding of the agony and hopeless feelings connected to your personal situation of depression. An art therapist can guide you in making art that is self  soothing and supportive to your specific needs. The nurturing of art making and doing it with an art therapist can be an icebreaker that softens the wall of depression.

Making art with a trained Art Therapist who is registered and board certified is an  extremely helpful way for you to  begin your art making journey. This will create a sense of safety with knowledge that your your well being is paramount

It is important to have an evaluation by a trained medical professional to see if your depression is  indeed a chemical imbalance or an emotional situation or both.

Art Therapy During Life Transitions

10/12/2015

 
“I am overwhelmed with life. I want to have free time to read, walk my dog, and see friends. Instead, my life has become a routine of work and taking care of the kids. There is little energy left to be the me that used to enjoy life…”
 
“I am newly pregnant and did not expect this, as I already have the number of kids I wanted…”
 
“I just lost our 15-year-old dog. I can’t seem to be able to mourn the loss and move on.”
These three statements are more similar than they might appear at a quick glance. In fact, they all come from people experiencing the same things:
 
  • Destabilizing life transitions
  • Loss of direction
  • A sense of overwhelm
 
Life transitions can take a huge toll on our sense of self and our sense of security and can be extremely challenging to go through. There are pragmatic solutions to these issues. But how do we to get to them?
 
Art therapy can help with this.

What Art Therapy Does

Art therapy to cope with life transitions
Client expressing feelings through art making during a difficult life transition
What art therapy does is getting you to actively do something and engage in a multi-sensory experience.
 
During an art therapy session, you might build something out of scrap objects, work with paint, create a collage or a sculpture.
 
The point is not to make something “pretty.” It’s about giving a tangible expression and meaning to your thoughts and feelings.  
 
Why is that important?
Release: The body’s physiological response to doing something with your hands helps you release some of the tension built up inside you.

See: Creating something tangible that you can look at helps you see your situation in a new way that might be out of reach when you are stuck in your head and simply try to “talk it out.”

Take action: Having different materials to choose from creates a process to explore solutions to the problem. Oftentimes, just having options in front of you can provide a sense of restoration and comfort. It dissipates the feeling of not being in control, of being powerless in the face of your situation. 

​The type of materials that you are drawn to can be revealing and open the door to new understandings. Using the materials to create something new that you can then talk about with the art therapist adds new layers of understanding and can help you find your way again.
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LINDA LEE GOLDMAN, M.Ed., A.T.R., Registered & Board Certified Art Therapist
Areas Served:
Chicago | Northbrook | Evanston | Wilmette | Winnetka | Glencoe | Glenview | Deerfield | Highland Park | Wheeling | Buffalo Grove | Mount Prospect
Art Therapy for Adults and Kids:
ADD and ADHD | Alzheimer's | Anxiety | Asperger's | Autism | Couples Counseling | Dementia | Depression | Developmental Delays | Dissociative Identity Disorder | Divorce and other Life Transitions | Domestic Violence | Down Syndrome | Eating Disorders | Family Counseling | Grief and Loss Counseling | Learning Disabilities | OCD | Schizophrenia | Self-Esteem Issues | Stress | Substance Abuse and Addictions | Suicide Survivors | Women's Personal Growth / stroke/ handicapped/

Creative Workshops & Classes for any age


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