Art Therapy

At Manhattan Therapy, we support our patients in receiving evidence-based treatment to recover from trauma.

Recent research over the last 30+ years shows that consuming and making art can change a person’s brain, behavior, and body. The field is referred to as neuroaesthetics and helps inform our Art Therapists at Manhattan Therapy. Neuroaesthetics demonstrates that engaging and consuming art, no matter the form, is beneficial to our brain health and overall well-being as our brain’s plasticity allows it to respond and grow depending on what surrounds it.

Art Therapy is a type of psychotherapy in which one will utilize art materials to regulate stress levels and assist in understanding deeper meanings to thoughts and actions. Anyone can benefit from art therapy as research posits that working with art strengthens the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that is in charge of behavioral and emotional regulation. Art creates new neural pathways in the brain, which is particularly important when working with trauma. 

Trauma is held in one’s body either consciously (where one can recall it in words or images) or unconsciously (held in the body and not accessible in verbal or symbolic memory). Traumatic memory of the past can deeply impact one’s life in the present.  Traumatic memory is not linear and the body and mind are not always able to distinguish whether the trauma is occurring in the past or the present. This is because trauma alters the amygdala, also referred to as the alarm system, which is located in the brain. Trauma can cause an increase of stress hormones to be released, which changes how the amygdala filters both relevant and irrelevant information; in turn, this can cause constant alarm or reactions that are not proportional to the circumstances. Constant fear activation can be exhausting and can cause additional stressors to life such as brain fog, irritability, and emotional dysregulation, to name a few.

Art-making provides a tangible and physical container for overwhelming feelings to be explored, understood, and reintegrated into one’s sense of self. It creates a bridge between both thoughts and emotions and therefore makes one’s feelings digestible, and thoughts accessible rather than one feeling like they are re-experiencing the trauma. Through art therapy one can return to using their learning brain rather than their survival brain in everyday life, freeing them from past experiences. Our art therapist is Sally Rabinowitz, LCAT.