How does art impact mental health and vice versa

In this article I would like to share my insights and experience on this topic, as to my opinion, it is interesting not only for professional creators, but for everyone in general.

In my previous blog I told you a story about my depression started at the age of 15. Back then, I wasn’t looking for information on internet how to cope with trauma, simply because I was an uneducated teenager who had no any clue in the psychology field. I would follow my intuition to choose some tools to cope with my grief. Since I was a little kid I had colourful intense imagination, full of alien friends, unusual scenery I never seen before, and this has always been a world in which everything was interesting and safe for me. Maybe because I was bullied since the kindergarten until my students years. I was this ugly duckling because of my height, and this was the reason I wanted to be better, faster and smarter than others, so they won’t have a reason to bully me again. But this happened not only among peers, but among teachers at school and professors at the university. So you know, staying in my room and escaping to my alien friends was a real miracle for my childhood psyche.
Having lost my father at the age of 15 destroyed this world as a result, the unusual colourful scenery turned into pitch darkness, alien friends disappeared somewhere, and I was left alone there. I felt the need to portray my loneliness, pain, defencelessness and loss in this huge world. Absorbed in the details, it was difficult not to notice how the process itself captivated and calmed me, bringing incredible pleasure. It was scary to share my darkness with someone, so paper and pen became my best friends for many years. I drew always and everywhere, as if I was keeping a diary of my life, but in illustrations. Usually you don’t show the secrets of your diary to others, only perhaps if you trust someone very much, so it always remained something very personal for me.

Over time, I moved to study in Kiev and by chance found myself in the creative environment of the fashion business. Being surrounded by so many different creatives such as designers, stylists, photographers, painters, musicians, make up artists, writers, sculptors etc, revealed in me the understanding that creating can become a life’s work. So my modeling career of 10 years, 5 of which I spent living and working in South-East Asia, has boosted my art flow and brought confidence to share my vision with the world. Fortunately, I had more understanding and support in foreign cultures, which eventually led me to the first sales of my graphic monochrome works. By that time, i had become a professional in my field, honing the skill of my dots and lines. I just had to be creative, working with only two colours, paper and pen. My work was deep, dark, brooding, and the amount of detail didn’t leave the viewer indifferent. It was difficult not to notice the painstaking and complexity of my art.

The people I was surrounded by: the managers of all my agencies, model friends and foreign friends encouraged me to share my art on social networks and go larger than a piece of paper. This subsequently led me to canvases, brushes and paints. At that time it was already a long journey of self-discovery at 10 years. This literally helped me grow and heal my childhood traumas of being an ugly duckling. Modelling career pushed me a lot as an artist, also by travelling, exploring the world through travels, different cultures and mentalities, gave a touch of being open minded and free. And the Internet world, in turn, led me to collaborations with famous musicians, more sales, to party organisers in Europe and my solo exhibition in the metropolis.

Summing up my story by asking whether I could have imagined this, I will say, OF COURSE NOT!
But I can confidently say that art helps with depression, anxiety and stress.
It boosts self-esteem, and makes feel great to have an ability to turn ideas into something physical. Art is a form of mental freedom. It’s for everyone. Art is therapeutic. Art is a tool that helps you practise self care by releasing everything you carry inside. Tool that clears up the space in your mind, heart and soul, and leaves your experience as a memory on canvas. It is proved that art can help process pain and provide a direct connection between the mind and body to help with the healing process.

Research by the American art therapy association has shown that engaging in just 45 minutes of art-making significantly reduced the levels of cortisol, across 75% of participants. Art forces the mind to slow down, to focus on the details, and it helps to block out the mind’s distractions, resulting in people feeling noticeably calmer and less anxious.

Art also activates the reward pathway of our brain: According to a study conducted in 2017, the results showed a significant increase in blood flow in the brain’s prefrontal cortex which controls our emotions and motivations. It is also where part of the brain’s reward system lies. When we expect to receive a reward, parts of the brain get activated to release dopamine, aka the ‘feel-good’ hormone. When released our blood flow, heart, and lung functions as well as our stress responses improve.

Using art as a mindfulness technique helps us to embrace our Inner Critic, tap into our creativity, focus on the sensations, and be in the present moment without judgment. It’s a break from our minds! So creating art in any form that is desirable for you is very beneficial in many ways, specially if used on a regular basis!!!

Let’s also take a look at it from the spiritual side and talk a little about Svadhisthana– the second chakra, also known as the creativity and sexual chakra. The word svadhisthana can be translated as “the dwelling place of the self,” and the element of the second chakra is water, which equals cohesiveness. A balanced second chakra leads to feelings of wellness, abundance, pleasure, and joy. When this chakra is out of balance, a person may experience emotional instability, fear of change, sexual dysfunction, depression, or addictions. You can open this chakra with creative expression and by honoring your body. The energy of this chakra is feminine, passive, and lunar.

Creativity: The Focus of The Second Chakra

As humans, it is part of our nature to create. This creativity can be expressed as procreation but the second chakra energy is certainly not limited to making babies. When we cook, bake, or garden, we are creating. We create when we find a new solution to an old problem. Any time we take raw materials, physical or mental, and transform them into something new, we are using our creative energy.

The problem with creativity is that we are often discouraged from creative efforts, starting with education. Once we pass through the phase where coloring, painting, or cutting paper is completely acceptable, it seems that we must mold into less creative beings. In order to conform, follow the rules and fit in, we sometimes lose our creative energy and thus, our unique ideas in the process. Adults become used to following what’s right, the latest trend, or what’s acceptable to others. Then, when asked to abstractly invent something new, we might have a difficult time doing it.

So “Play Like a Child to Awaken Your Creative Energy”

It’s about the skill of reconnecting with our inner child, who’s not afraid to take risks and not afraid of failure. We have an infinite amount of creative energy in us, and it MUST be used. Again, you will learn more about yourself, about your inner child, and you can find a way of finding a balance once it’s clear for the mind. From many different perspectives again, it’s healing for the mind, body and soul, and accessible practise to everyone.

Now, my role as a patient in psychotherapy also gave me the opportunity to reflect on my creativity on the path to recovery, on a completely different, new level for me, more conscious than ever before. So here are my insights on how does mental health impact art. I have a huge dark negative experience where the creativity unconsciously helped to save my life. And a smaller positive experience of working on myself, but no less significant. I can surely say that learning about the connection of mind, body and spirit has influenced a lot my life and specifically my art. Not only learning, but practicing mindfulness, self discipline, sport activities such as gym and running, contrast shower on a daily basis twice a day, had improved my stability and balance within myself. It increased the number of ideas, and the implementation of these ideas into reality, not only in quantity, but also in quality. Now, faced with life’s difficulties and vicissitudes, I spend much less time for coping mechanism than previously throughout my life. Working on supporting myself first and foremost has changed my approach to creativity. Of course, I still have doubts and insecurities, but this is not a destructive lever of creative routine that can stop me. With this, I want to destroy the myth that all creatives are dependent on destructive habits to help them create, such as ‘sex, drugs, rock’n’roll’ lifestyle. I mean, for a long play you need your balance, you need your concentration, consistency, and healthy relationships with yourself. When you are a creator and an influencer you get the responsibility for what you are sharing with the world, what message you need to send out there, for touching the minds and the souls of others.

In general, these are my modest observations and conclusions based on personal experience. One day I will return to this topic for a deeper study. But for now, I’d like to say to everyone who’s reading this. No matter the age, the background, the religious and financial situation, wherever you are and whoever you are at any phase of life – just do it. Do whatever makes you happy – dance, sing, make music, draw, act, sculpt, make clothing, literally – just do whatever that makes you feel fulfilled and what makes you fall in love with yourself. Be gentle and patient to yourself in everything you do, be curious, be wandering, explore. The process is a beautiful matter, not the result. Result is just one of many other benefits you get on the way. Dream big. But just do it. Be You. The best version of You.