ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the benefits of art therapy with medical populations, specifically through media choice, material applications, and adaptive directives. Material considerations are an essential part of the art therapy process, and hold additional therapeutic value when engaged in by a patient in need of a kinesthetic, fully immersed experience. The chapter provides multiple applications that can apply to inpatient hospitalizations, outpatient clinics, and medical patients residing within the community. It illustrates the wide range in material considerations with taking environmental factors into account, and how material selection is a crucial aspect of both a medical patient’s diagnosis and the art therapy process. Art-making itself can be viewed as a sensory experience; an individual is required to directly interact and physically manipulate materials to engage in the process. Art materials have a significant impact on the engagement, creativity, and expression of a medical patient undergoing direct treatment, recovering, and/or adapting to the changes in lifestyle of a given diagnosis.