The Art Therapy Cycle: How It Works

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses creative expression to explore thoughts, emotions, and experiences visually. At its core, it’s built around the belief that art-making can reach parts of ourselves that words alone sometimes can’t. Through colour, shape, movement, and texture, we can begin to understand and express what lies beneath the surface.

What makes art therapy unique is the way it works in cycles, through three interconnected stages that support both psychological and physical healing. These stages involve the sensory experience of creating, the image that’s formed, and the reflection that follows. Together, they create a process that helps people express, process, and integrate their experiences at a pace that feels safe and natural.

This cycle isn’t about artistic skill. It’s about connection and communication. Each stage invites a different kind of engagement: the body through movement and touch, the emotions through expression, and the mind through reflection and meaning-making. Whether someone is using art therapy to support mental health, reduce stress, or heal from past experiences, these layers work together in a continuous flow that helps you to gain self-understanding and healing.

1. Engaging the Body and Mind

The first level of art therapy involves the sensory experience; the physical act of creating. When someone paints, draws, sculpts, or even simply moves their hands through materials, their body becomes part of the healing process. The feel of the brush, the texture of the clay, the rhythm of movement, all of these sensory details help ground a person in the present moment and connect them to their body again.

For clients processing trauma, this can be particularly powerful. Trauma often causes the body and mind to feel disconnected. The body remembers, even when the mind wants to forget. Through art-making, both begin to re-engage in a safe and controlled way.

A researcher called Talwar developed a trauma-informed art therapy approach where participants painted while standing, using both hands and moving to collect materials. This process engaged both sides of the brain, the analytical and the creative, helping clients to integrate their experiences more fully. Talwar found that this approach improved participants’ ability to process traumatic memories, supporting emotional regulation and reducing anxiety.

Movement and creativity together provide a release, a way to express what’s inside, let go of tension, and find calm through action. It’s a physical and emotional outlet that can help the nervous system return to balance.

2. When the Image Speaks

The second level focuses on the image itself; what’s created on the page or in the material. The artwork can hold emotions, ideas, and experiences in symbolic form, giving them shape and visibility.

For many, words can feel unsafe or inadequate. Those who have experienced domestic abuse, for example, might struggle to describe what happened. Survivors of child sexual abuse may associate language with manipulation or threat. Children might not yet have the vocabulary to explain what they’ve lived through. In these cases, art becomes a new language, one that feels safer and more natural.

The image acts as a container for difficult feelings. It externalises the pain, placing it outside the body where it can be seen and understood from a distance. This helps people face their experiences without becoming overwhelmed.

Through colour, shape, and texture, clients can begin to tell their story in a non-verbal, symbolic way, at their own pace. Over time, the artwork becomes a bridge between inner experience and outer expression, helping to build a sense of safety and empowerment.

3. Finding Meaning and Understanding

The third level of art therapy involves reflection: making sense of what the image reveals. This is where emotions, memories, and thoughts begin to connect, creating understanding and integration.

Therapist Natalie Rogers once compared this process to “peeling a scab”: if healing is forced too quickly, it can cause harm. The same principle applies in art therapy. Clients need to move at their own pace. The therapist’s role is to provide safety and support, allowing exploration to unfold naturally. Art therapy gives people this choice. They can stay with the act of creation or explore what their artwork brings up, depending on what feels right for them. This gives the process a protective quality. The artwork itself becomes a kind of shield or a safe space for emotion and meaning to exist outside of the self, and for the client to explore at their own pace.

Interestingly, research has shown that creating art can also generate positive emotions, which helps reduce avoidance of painful topics. As people begin to reflect on their art, they often find that understanding grows. This can lead to reduced anxiety, improved mood, and a greater sense of emotional regulation. For those living with post-traumatic stress, the process can ease intrusive symptoms and help them reconnect fragmented memories into a clearer narrative.

The Cycle of Healing

Art therapy doesn’t follow a straight path; it’s a cycle. The three levels of sensory engagement, image creation, and reflection flow into one another and repeat as the person continues their journey. After finding meaning in one piece, a client might feel inspired to create another, exploring new emotions or insights. Each cycle deepens understanding and integration, connecting body, emotion, and thought.

This process also builds a sense of control and empowerment. When clients make creative choices, they experience themselves as active participants in their healing, not passive recipients of treatment. They learn emotional regulation, gaining tools they can use beyond the therapy room.

Bringing It All Together

Art therapy offers a unique path to healing, one that honours the connection between body, mind, and creativity. It provides a safe, expressive outlet for emotions that may have been silenced or suppressed, and it allows those with trauma to rebuild trust in themselves and in their ability to cope.

Through the simple yet profound act of creating, people begin to rediscover agency, resilience, and meaning. They learn that healing doesn’t always come through words. Sometimes, it begins with movement, colour, and the courage to create.

If you want to begin your art therapy journey, please reach out to book an in-person or virtual session from wherever you are in the world.

References:

Hass-Cohen, N., & Carr, R. (2008). Art therapy and clinical neuro-science. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Rogers, N. (1993). The Creative Connection: Expressive arts as healing. Palo Alto: Science and Behaviour Books Inc.

Talwar, S. (2007). Accessing traumatic memory through art making: An art therapy trauma protocol (ATTP). The Arts in Psychotherapy, 34(1), pp. 22–35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2006.09.001