Art and Healing: Using Expressive Art to Heal Your Body, Mind, and Spirit

by Barbara Ganim

Book Overview

Artists have always known intuitively what science is just beginning to discover: that creating a visual image through any medium can produce physical and emotional benefits for both the creator as well as those who view it. Most important, you don't need to think of yourself as an artist or even believe you have any "talent" to tap into the healing powers of art. ???????? In this remarkable testament to the power of creativity, Barbara Ganim shows...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609803166
• ISBN13: 9780609803165
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (CA)
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Interactive Book

This is a very good book to help anyone learn about expressive arts and to use them for healing of self or for others. Simple and yet deep at the same time. Ganim takes us on a jouney and show us how to approach our emotions through the art work. The examples of visual pieces are just wonderful. Excellent for individual work, group therapy, and most definitely children. This book is a very fast read and you may find yourself flying a little to fast through the pages...but I would have to say this is a worthy book to any clinician or client who want to gain understanding for themselves and others.

"art therapy" without the stigma

As an artist and teacher who has personally experienced the powerful healing benefits of the creative act, I applaud this book! I believe it can serve many who would not otherwise seek out an art therapist or art therapy texts. Don't dismiss it as "New age hogwash" until you try it yourself -- the proof is in getting those creative juices going and seeing where they take you. You can change and learn in ways that will amaze you --- and the best part is that YOUR creative spirit will show you the way, with a little help from guidebooks such as this.

Wonderful guidebook for non-therapists!

This is a great book for lay people. Many books of this type are too academic, densely written or boring to the average non-professional reader who might be interested in this topic. The writer makes the concept so easy to understand. It's filled with examples of interesting (and often beautiful) art work with words and stories by the creators. Very powerful to have the individuals who themselves have gone through life-threatening illnesses and traumatic situations talk about the healing power of art. Particularly fascinating to see examples of how art can be used globally and with the environment. Kudos to the all the people who shared so honestly their intimate stories and viewpoints, and congratulations to the author for compiling such a compelling body of work.

Fabulous reference tool for the transformative power of art

I think this book does an excellent job of theory and technique. The book does not suggest that one has to be in "art therapy" to use art as a healing tool! The book is ground-breaking in that it gives the reader the impression that art is good for you and it does not take rocket science to maximize the healing potential of the arts.

The next best thing to taking a workshop on Art and Healing.

This book is an inspiration! The material is presented simply, clearly, and in a logical progression. Ater reading the first few chapters, which talk about how to use the art and healing process, and the differences in expressing emotions verbally and through imagery, I felt I had a much better understanding of the topic and the confidence to try the process for myself. One of the things I especially like about it, is that it contains plenty of anecdotal work with clients and includes the artwork that came out of their process (which helped relieve the insecurity I felt about my own art ability). At the end of each chapter, Ganim gives the reader exercises to try at home, along with guided visualizations to help relax you into each exercise. Then she provides self-dialoguing questions to help you understand what your images might mean. I found this book the next best thing to taking a workshop on Art and Healing. The only thing that would make it better would be to offer audio tapes with the guided visualizations on it, which would make it that much easier to work on this at home.