Researching Different Art Therapies

Over the past two weeks I focused my attention on researching different mental illnesses (anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder) to get more information about each of these illnesses and how they can be treated. I found a lot of helpful information on websites such as the NHS website and on the Mind charity website. These gave me a deeper understanding on different issues faced individuals dealing with mental health illnesses and how to help manage these using a variety of techniques. I myself do already know some things about particular mental health issues and am aware of some support available. For the purposes of researching, I decided to look into this as if I knew nothing to get a better understanding of the variety of issues people deal with and to get a new understanding of treatments available to those in need. I used a range of resources to learn new information from books to the web.

During the week I tried to practice some of the self-help techniques suggested to those with depression and anxiety, starting with some mindful meditation. Using this to try and accept my thoughts but being able to let them go to focus on the present moment, becoming somewhat more self-aware in the particular space I was in. I also tried some art therapy techniques, I tried using music to help influence my mood, to get an insight into how can use external factors to influence the current state of mind.

Emotion wheel based on different songs representing these six emotions.

Over the next week or so, I plan to look at areas that overlap in these mental health issues and narrow down my focus to one or two aspects of this.