Art as Therapy for the Soul

Abstract

The author proceeds from the fact that man is a creative being by nature, called upon to realize his unique creative potential in life. The thesis is put forward that the ability and need for creativity is not an exception, but a norm of human existence. In this regard, the difference between the statistical understanding of the norm and its axiological understanding, characteristic of humanitarian psychology, is emphasized. The fact that creativity is the norm, and its deficiency or absence is a pathology dangerous in its consequences, is associated with the demand for creativity therapy, primarily art therapy. The question is raised about the extent to which existing art therapy practices rely on the specific possibilities of art as such. The author believes that involvement in art and artistic creativity has a beneficial effect on a person in two interconnected dimensions – vertical and horizontal. In the first case, we are talking about overcoming a person’s isolation from his own creative nature, the gap between everyday self-awareness and the higher creative “I”. In the second, the feeling of isolation, alienation from the outside world, and the opposition of “I” and “not-I” are overcome. Based on his own research, the author claims that children have favorable age prerequisites for artistic and creative development, and therefore early experience of artistic creativity can serve as a preventive measure against psychological ill-being in their later life. The question is raised about the conditions under which the impact of art can be healing for a person.