Art Therapy and
Clinical Neuroscience
LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Mind-Body Connectivity
• Establishing connectivity: Development and Learning,
Brain Plasticity, Affect Regulation and Integration,
Expressions of Relational Empathy and Mindfulness
• Art Therapy Relational Neuroscience Principles (ATR-N)
What is the relationship
between art therapy and
neuroscience ?
• Art therapy is poised to take advantage of the
abundance of information from clinical
neuroscience research.
• Clinical neuroscience is the application of the
science of neurobiology to human psychology.
• The connections between the nervous system, the
endocrine system and the immune system all shed
light on the intrapersonal expressions of the
relational self.
• Research in neuroscience has shown that engaging
in creative activities can activate various regions of
the brain. When individuals participate in art
therapy, they utilize cognitive processes, emotional
responses, and sensory experiences, all of which
contribute to brain health.
Mind-Body Connectivity
• The interplay of experiences, emotions, behavior and physical
health characterize the study of mind-body connections.
• Mind-body connectivity manifests in the nervous system’s
organization. The central nervous system consists of the brain
and the spinal cord, which innervates the body organs and their
extremities through the peripheral nervous system.
• The peripheral nervous system produces involuntary and
voluntary responses to environment.
• It has two branches: the autonomic nervous system, which
controls involuntary responses to stimuli, maintains normal
functions, and restores homeostasis; and the somatic nervous
system, which conveys sensory information to the central
nervous system and controls voluntary muscular or motor actions
• An example of mind-body connectivity is the social
function of the vagal nerve (the tenth cranial nerve),
which has connections to the brain as well as to the
chest and abdominal areas. “Gut feelings” can be
partially attributed to the vagal nerve’s connections
with, and influences on, the digestive system.
PARTNERING OF ART THERAPY AND CLINICAL
NEUROSCIENCE
• It is important to share with art therapy clients how a person’s
response to stress may be affected by how he/she perceives,
emotes (portray emotion) and thinks about the situation (Barlow
2001). Thoughts are governed by the functioning of the cerebral
cortex, the top part of the brain.
• Also known as the newest brain, the neocortex covers the limbic
system structures located in the central brain and most of the
brainstem. Responsible for sophisticated social cognitions, the
cortex is considered the seat of thought, emotional
appraisal, and voluntary movement. The cortex has two
hemispheres, right and left; each side is divided into five lobes
(figure on next slide).
Establishing connectivity: development
and learning
• The earliest therapeutic relationship between the
primary caregiver and infant directly shapes the infant’s
emotional brain.
• The infant/caregiver affective relationship has a large
impact on neural networks’ connectivity thus shaping
brain development and maturation.
• The neural function has been discussed on page – 27,
28, 29.
As stated earlier, non-verbal communications
between mother and infant organize
neurobiological systems (Schore 1994).
The development of the infant’s self-regulation
organizes the growth of the human nervous
system, linking subcortical areas with the
developing cortex.
Art therapists working with mothers and
caregivers may want to share how
somatosensory regulatory experiences of
holding, touching and gazing help
organize their child’s nervous system.
The interactive brain is social (Cozolino 2002;
Perry 2001) as mothers and babies continue to
soothe each other and grow in shared contexts
of emotion and behavior.
• The pleasure associated with therapeutic art-
making may also help mitigate postpartum
and/or clinical depression.
• Sharing the knowledge that consistent and responsive
care and early childhood interventions correlate with
positive development trajectory (National Research
Council of Medicine 2000) can be helpful for primary
caregivers.
• Caution must also be taken in order not to overwhelm
and bombard developing brains with too much
somatosensory stimuli (Ahlander 2002).
• Most importantly, the focus of intervention should be
preventing and treating severe child abuse and
neglect, both of which can result in deprivation of
brain stimulation.
• The neurobiological consequences of childhood
physical, emotional and cognitive abuse and
neglects often contribute to enduring states of
personal fear that can lead towards
perpetuating violence on to others later in life
(Perry 1997) and/or to being adult victims of
violence.
• The brain continues to develop during the
adolescent years and young adulthood as the
frontal lobes, areas responsible for attention,
concentration and sophisticated decision-
making, myelinate and reorganize.
• As the adult frontal cortex further develops and
higher cortical functions are acquired, the brain
continues to organize and change throughout
the lifespan by means of social-emotional
experiences.
Brain Plasticity
• Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to strengthen, renew
and, to a certain degree, rewire to compensate for
developmental, learning and traumatic brain deficits.
• The phenomena of brain plasticity is perhaps one of the most
significant outcomes of neuroimaging as it has potential clinical
applications: “a very important recent finding of magnetic resonance-
based morphometry is the discovery of the brain’s ability to alter its
shape within weeks, reflecting structural adaptation to physical and
mental activity”.
• Greater brain usage increases neuronal activity, which increases
dendrites and synaptic activity, thickening brain gray matter and
resulting in heavier brains (Mechelli et al. 2004; Stein et al. 2006).
Heavier brains are less vulnerable to neurogenerative diseases, such
as Alzheimer’s, and can better compensate for brain injury.
• Cognitive behavioral therapies also modified neural circuitry
function (Lazar et al. 2005; Prasko et al. 2004; Straube et al.
2006), suggesting that altering how people think about
other people triggers changes that affect brain function.
Perhaps the repeated practices involved in making art and
consistently communicating with others through art forms may
have similar, positive effects.
• Art therapy practices provide a unique opportunity for
expression of emotions and practicing the regulation of
affect. Colors and textures easily arouse affectively laden
limbic memories while purposeful art-making provides a
here and now opportunity to express, understand and
integrate emotional reactions.
Affect regulation and integration
• Affective neuroscience (Panksepp 1998) emphasizes the importance of
connecting limbic emotions with right prefrontal cortex communication
(Schore 1999). According to a review of neuroimaging studies, the
common significant area of activation for both core and social affects is
the orbital frontal cortex (OFC) (Barrett et al. 2007). The lower portion
of the prefrontal cortex, called the OFC, is located above the eyes and
just behind the forehead. The OFC is considered the pinnacle of
emotional processing.
• “Art as therapy” activities have the potential to activate neural
pathways related to tactile and kinesthetic sensations associated with
the primary somatosensory cortex.
• Expressing, experiencing and learning how to regulate affects can
perhaps happen more easily through sensory integration activities and
kinesthetic movement associated with art therapy activities.
Example
• McNamee suggested that a neurologically based bilateral art
protocol can possibly facilitate a systemic integration of
hemispheric right-left functions. The protocol assists clients
in exploring conflicting choices, cognitions or emotions.
• The therapist provides a page divided by a midline. For a full and
precise description of the protocol and case study see McNamee
2003, p.285).
Affect regulation and
integration (contd.)
• Art therapy practices can assist in regulating limbic affects by engaging
left cortical functions. For example, art therapists may be able to do so
by asking clients to title the artwork and talk about their feelings with
the therapist.
• The left hemisphere specializes in the reception of language and the
production of speech. Relative to other mammals the human cortex has
expanded to accommodate our unique language abilities (Kalat 2004).
• Language and social communication directly contribute to necessary
affect regulation. There are two main language centers in the human
brain, Wernicke’s and Broca’s.
• Wernicke’s area, responsible for language comprehension, is located
in the left temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is also responsible for
receptive language and auditory processing. While receptive
language is primarily located in the left temporal lobe, speech and
expressive language are located in the Broca’s area close to the
motor strip in the left prefrontal lobe
•.
• Thus, talking about the art seems to engage cortical shifts: “Putting
feelings into words is an effective strategy for regulating negative
emotional responses” (Lieberman 2007, p.270; review). Asking clients
always to title and talk about the art may result in them routinely
doing so. Automatically talking about and labeling feelings has been
shown to reduce amygdala activity and increase prefrontal activation.
Expressions of relational empathy and
mindfulness
• Affect regulation is mediated by relationships with others. Interpersonal relationships
can arouse as well as alleviate stressful emotions and humans are more likely to turn
to others at times of distress.
• The therapeutic goals of interpersonal neurobiology are to recruit the other’s mind in
order to increase flexible, adaptive, coherent, energized and stable states of mind
(FACES).
• First discovered in the brains of Macaque monkeys, mirror neurons fired when the
monkeys performed purposeful hand and feet actions, as well as in response to their
recognizing or even anticipating purposeful and successful acts performed by others.
• For the art therapist, this may represent an exciting representation of empathic
connectivity.
SUMMARY
1. The art therapy approach outlined in this module highlights a mind-body
practice that can help organize, integrate and enhance the complexity of
people’s intrapersonal and interpersonal interactions. Key to the development of
interpersonal neurobiology sensitive art therapy directives is finding out how our
clients may have adapted to life stressors and appreciating that unresolved
adaptations may have created emotional residue.
2. Therapy interventions that have the potential to rewire the brain also have
the power to recondition such traumatic residues.
3. In doing art therapy, “the challenge is to learn enough about the mechanisms
of plasticity to be able to guide them, suppressing changes that may lead to
undesirable behaviors while accelerating or enhancing those that result in a
behavioral benefit”.
4. In the future, interpersonal, sensory-based art therapy interventions may
prove to be away of creating change in the brain. Sharing information about how
the brain changes with therapists and with clients can also generate powerful
art therapy psychoeducational interventions.
5. Completing the art therapy task requires the integration of higher cortical
thinking, such as planning, attention, and mindful problem-solving with social-
emotional investment.
CREATE: Art Therapy Relational Neuroscience
Principles (ATR-N)
• The unique contributions of art therapy approaches can be better understood
and appreciated by utilizing findings from neuroscience research.
• From this linking of art therapy practices with clinical neuroscience, six
proposed art therapy relational neuroscience (ATR-N) principles emerge:
Creativity in action;Relational resonance; Expressive communication;
Adaptive responses: Transformation; and Empathy (CREATE).
