Art Therapy and Children

My essay is focused on art therapy and children. I have always had an interest in child development, and since learning about art therapy through this course, it is clear the impact it can have on children and the benefit to them in later years. Art therapy gives children the space and opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings or heal from past trauma. This, in turn, could have a profound impact on their lives and on the lives of the people around them. Many children don’t have the opportunity to express themselves at a young age or don’t have the tools or support to process trauma, which can sometimes have devastating impacts on their childhood and into adulthood. I’ve read many books as part of this course, and was fascinated by some of the outcomes that children had through art therapy.

“The art therapist working with children has an understanding of child development, with emphasis on the internal world of the child, attachment issues and early infantile experience. Engaging in the process of art provides the possibility of a more spontaneous, non-verbal means of communication through which children can express many of the wide range of emotional and behavioural difficulties with which they are struggling. (Case, Dalley, Reddick, p8 ,2008)

Benefits of Art Therapy for Children

Art therapy with children is a natural and non-threatening way for children to express emotions, especially when they’ve experienced trauma or loss. It allows them to externalise difficult feelings that may be too painful to verbalise and can reveal hidden or repressed emotions. Art therapy can help bring important therapeutic issues to light, helping the art therapist understand a child’s emotional, cognitive and developmental state more efficiently. The process of making art can be calming and meditative, helping children relax and feel more in control of their emotions.

“Drawings expediently bring issues relevant to treatment to the surface, thus accelerating the helping professional’s ability to intervene and assist troubled children. A drawing can provide information on developmental, emotional, and cognitive functioning, hasten expression of hidden traumas, and convey ambiguous or contradictory feelings and perceptions.” (Malchiodi, 2001)

Case Studies of Art Therapy and Children

Healing the mother and baby connection

Art therapy is shown to have benefits for all ages, even babies. One case study below provided a mother with a non-verbal space to explore and express her emotions around motherhood, ultimately helping to strength her emotional connection with her child and build confidence in her role as a mother.

“Hannah had an easy, sociable manner which concealed complicated feelings about babies and dependence, the result of her own troubled childhood. A psychotic episode with hospital admission followed the birth of her first child and her ambivalence about her next pregnancy increased when the expected baby was a boy. While both children were well cared for and Hannahs decorative painting had a style all their own, she hovered uncertainly between breast and bottle feeding and her underlying feelings were expressed in disquieting ways, such as her habit of leaving Leo on how own, lying flat on the cold, hard, floor while she went to another part of the room” Case, C and Dalley, T (1995)

By the end of the 20 sessions, the mom said that she “now loved Leo to bits and indicated that she felt more confident about the future, for herself and her children”(Case, C and Dalley, T (1995)

Supporting Emotional Expression

The following case study highlights the transformative impact of art therapy on a young boy struggling with emotional dysregulation and social isolation.

“Noah, for example, was an extremely intelligent and gifted schizoid, preadolescent boy in day treatment at a special school and treatment centre. From early childhood on, he had been chronically unhappy, with frequent temper tantrums, during which he broke furniture and hit his mother. And despite his 160 IQ, he had always had difficulty in school, not doing homework, crying every day, and without friends. Noah came to art therapy after several years of psychotherapy, during which he had made fleeting but incoherent references to his science fiction fantasy. In the past year, his psychotherapist discovered that when Noah entered acutely upset and unable to speak, only through drawing was he able to regain internal controls and to reveal the nature of his distress. It was no surprise, then, that art therapy sessions allowed this extremely withdrawn boy to objectify his fantasy life”.

Noah’s case illustrates the powerful role art therapy can play in reaching children who are otherwise emotionally inaccessible through conventional therapeutic methods. Through art therapy, he found a safe and expressive outlet that allowed his unconscious conflicts to surface and be gradually explored. Art therapy in this case used “artwork initially to bring unconscious conflicts to the surface, and ultimately to lead patients to a conscious verbal awareness of these conflicts” (Rubin, 2012, p.50).

Channelling ADHD Energy into Art

Children with ADHD are often bursting with energy, intense emotions, and creative ideas. Sitting still and talking about feelings may be difficult for them, but giving these children paper and finger paints or paints will appeal a lot more to them. Art therapy is a good fit for children with ADHD, as art therapy can provide a space in which people with ADHD can express their own rules around creating. Art therapy also provides a space in which an individual can express intense emotions and frustrations. Additionally, art therapy can help establish a place of calm and focus for the client. Given the freedom of expression and lack of ‘rules’ to conform to, people with ADHD can begin to develop a sense of mastery and consequently a sense of confidence that stems from strengthened self-esteem.

“Paul had attended three art therapy sessions to date as part of his overall management of ADHD. Paul had shown a keen interest in art and had been attending the art therapy sessions enthusiastically…. Paul has had a difficult time at school concentrating on his class work. His teacher has commented that he does not seem to pay attention, and when she attempts to address it with Paul, he becomes defensive and upset that the teacher thinks he is dumb”

Paul was asked to draw what ‘distractions’ mean to him and develop a sense of noticing when a distraction arises.

“Paul drew his classroom and represented the visual elements of the classroom that he felt were boring and restrictive. Paul also added the other elements that were present in his environment which he felt were more interesting. Paul discussed with his therapist the different parts of school that made him pay less attention to his teacher. Paul was able to see that more than just his efforts were contributing to the successes or failures that he experienced at school.”

This case study explores how art therapy served as a supportive and empowering space for Paul, a young boy managing the challenges of ADHD, helping his to externalise his experiences, process emotions, and build self-awareness through creative exploration.

Healing Through Clay

Jean was a young girl who was bitter, upset and confused, having very poor relationships with her peers. Her anger came out in physical symptoms, mainly severe headaches and tummy upsets. She did not seem interested in, nor able to, play.

The art therapist encouraged her to use clay.

“She made a rather formless object, smoothing it over and over again until she was satisfied, then it had to be left to dry until it could be fired, so she put it on a shelf with other objects. I was anxious that it would survive the firing, and it did. Jean then asked me for a small box and tissue paper. Together, we looked for this in the art therapy room. She then wrapped the clay object carefully in the paper, we put the lid on the box, wrapped it up with a lot of string and put it at the back of the top shelf… She did not mention the box for several months…. Then one day, she made a clay girl/woman and stabbed her with a craft knife. I felt an awful pain in my stomach. It was a shock. She just smiled. It was terrifying. I avoided asking her who the woman was, but I am sure it was Jean herself. I had felt the pain for her. For some time, I had thought that she may have been physically abused, but she had never spoken about it. I felt her shame. I said, ‘What shall we do with your woman? Do you want to leave her like this?’ She cried and said, ‘NO!’ I suggested we repair the cuts and take care of the woman until she was better. We did it (and clay is wonderful for this, as when wet it can be moulded easily). We put the woman on the top shelf, wrapped up in some cloth, next to the box. About a month later, she asked me to get the box down for her. I gave it to her and she said, ‘Let’s open it!’ It was a truly magical experience because she was so excited to remove the ‘object’. I had a sense it was the frozen part of her, abused as a young child, hidden

in a box, but safely. We put the box, the object and the woman together on the back of the top shelf, where they stayed until she finished her therapy. The changes in her physical appearance from the time of opening the box were remarkable. She smiled and showed interest in her peers, and she started enjoying school and going out with her friends. I remember this well as it was so important for me to join her in her rituals, not saying much, but being there and letting the process take its time. Through the art therapy process, she was able to reveal a shameful secret and to obtain the care and support that she needed as a result” (Waller (2006) Art Therapy for Children: How It Leads to Change).

Jean’s journey through art therapy highlights the healing potential of creative expression in a safe, supportive space. Using clay in her art therapy sessions, she was able to externalise deep-seated internalised emotions and traumatic experiences that words could not express. The therapist’s quiet presence and attuning to Jeans needs allowed trust and transformation to unfold at Jeans pace. This case illustrates how art therapy can serve as a container for deep healing.

Conclusion

As per the above examples, art therapy offers a powerful and versatile approach to supporting children’s emotional and psychological well-being. These case studies highlight its effectiveness across a wide range of needs, from strengthening the emotional bond between mother and baby to supporting children facing emotional dysregulation, trauma, or ADHD. For some, like Hannah, art therapy created a non-verbal space to process unresolved feelings about motherhood, ultimately fostering a deeper connection with her child. For others, like Noah and Paul, it served as a vital outlet to externalise emotions, manage internal chaos, and develop self-awareness through creative exploration. These examples underscore how art therapy can access the unconscious, provide emotional regulation, enhance self-esteem, and facilitate healing, making it an important tool in child mental health care.