Why talking isn’t the only path to healing ㅡ an arts therapy perspective.
It can be easy to dismiss artmaking as separate from healing, and try to process distressing experiences through words alone.
I, too, believed that talking things through, analysing, and verbalising emotions was the best way to understand what was happening inside. And often, it did feel cathartic and helped release what was bottled up.
But sometimes, confronting your deepest feelings through words can feel scary, leading us to repress or avoid them whether intentionally or unintentionally. At other times, it can simply feel too confusing to even try articulate the complex layers of emotions you feel all at once or are shifting too quickly from moment to moment.
Some emotions sit so deep in your body that trying to put them into words feels like trying to catch mist with your hands.
It can feel frustrating, like being locked out of your own experience. But creative expression through art, movement, and imagery can sometimes provide another way in. A way that feels gentler, more playful, and insightful. This is the essence of arts therapy- the healing potential of creativity when words fall short.
when words fall short
I’ve witnessed this not only in myself, but in others. Many of my clients came to arts therapy feeling stuck. Often, they responded to questions about their thoughts and feelings with a hesitant and repeated:
“I don’t know…”
It wasn’t that they weren’t trying. Some things can feel too difficult or unsafe to name. And when words aren’t accessible, it can feel like we are failing at therapy, as if we aren’t trying hard enough or that our emotions aren’t valid because we can’t articulate them. But that simply isn’t true.
In Arts Therapy, the materials and artworks can hold emotions and do the talking for us. There’s something powerful in the creative process: painting, drawing, moving, or even just cutting, shaping, or ripping something with your hands. It’s not about making ‘good’ or ‘pretty’ art. It’s about allowing something inside to take form in an unforced way that feels true to yourself and your emotional experience.
expression beyond words
I’ve seen people find clarity in the colours they choose, the shapes they create, or the movements they make. Sometimes they don’t realise what they are holding until they see it reflected back through their art. Other times, feeling a shift in the body while creating can be just as powerful.
Allowing ourselves to explore the dark moments through creativity can be transformative. The less we try to explain everything, the more it becomes clear that healing often happens in the not-knowing. Life and emotions rarely make perfect sense. But when things are allowed to unfold creatively, it often becomes easier to see experiences in a new light.
I’ve witnessed these shifts in my clinical practice too. Moments when someone picks up a paintbrush, starts moving, or sinks their hands into a lump of clay, they don’t necessarily speak into it but you see something shift in the light of their eyes. Sometimes there are tears. Sometimes laughter. Sometimes just a deep sense of calm and relief in their body.
a different way to heal
There is nothing wrong with not being able to find the words. Healing is rarely linear or logical. Words are processed from our heads, but emotions often reside within our bodies and nervous systems.
So when healing begins there, it can look messy, colourful, raw and at times a little ‘ugly’. It might look like scribbles on a page, or a silly, spontaneous dance in your living room. And that can be just as powerful and transformative as sitting across from someone and talking things out.
Stepping into our creativity can often feel intimidating at times. I struggled too, especially when perfectionism and my inner critic take over the wheel. But just like talk therapy isn’t about being good at public speaking, Arts Therapy isn’t about being good at art. It’s about connecting with yourself in a way that feels safe and natural.
Everyone’s healing process is different. And if talk therapy hasn’t quite landed for you, maybe it’s time to try something new. Something that taps into the creativity innate in all of us, and allow it bring to light what needs healing.
If this resonates and you're curious about how Arts Therapy might support you, I’d love to chat. I offer a complimentary discovery call, free of charge, which you can book here. Healing can start in the smallest of ways: a brushstroke, a gesture, or a moment of creative play held with gentleness and curiosity.
