Exploring Creative Art Therapy (CAT) through Severe Mental Health Disorders

Abstract

Humans want to help people have a better quality of life however people suffering from severe mental health disorders including bipolar disorder, anorexia, schizophrenia, depression disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many more are forced to go on SSRIs, antipsychotic medication, or even very intensive forms of therapy like exposure therapy which inhibits their quality of life. Researchers and psychologists have started to dive into other methods which include creative art therapy also known as CAT. While this is still relatively new in our world due to the stigma of mental disorders, researchers want to see if there is another antidote that doesn't pump a person full of chemicals or hurt them dramatically more due to going through the same situation twice. The reason why this research needs to continue is that humans did not ask for their chemical imbalances and should not be treated as sub-human. With art being on the rise, there have been many controlled studies that research different methods of art, and while some are a miss there has been a significant amount of data supporting the statement that mental health disorders decline rapidly due to creativity and being able to express freely. In this research paper, one will dive into mental health disorders that have been explored using creative art therapy and the results that could help many to come.