Expressing your feelings through painting, drawing or sculpting helps children with asthma to better cope with the anxiety and stress associated with the disease, reports the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
During the so-called In art therapy, children work under the supervision of a therapist, using various art techniques to express feelings that they often cannot express in words.
It’s not about drawing pretty pictures. The idea is to help them go deeper by using the creative process to express and release emotions, says Anya Beebe, an art therapist lead researcher at National Jewish Health in Denver.
Beebe points out that the feelings of anxiety in children can be triggered just by thinking about previous asthma attacks. This anxiety, in turn, may hasten the onset of another episode or exacerbate an attack that could be milder.
While art therapy is already widely used, its effect on children with asthma has not yet been thoroughly investigated. The latest research included only 22 children, but Beebe and her colleagues say the results are promising.
The children in the studies had asthma and were between 7 and 14 years old. Half of them participated in therapeutic activities. After just seven weeks, this group showed a reduction in anxiety levels and an improvement in quality of life, as well as a more positive self-perception compared to the group that did not use the therapy.
Six months after the last classes, the results of the therapy were still visible, although to a lesser extent. However, it was not investigated whether reducing anxiety reduced the frequency of asthma attacks.
Physical and mental health often go hand in hand. This is true for children with asthma, concludes Beebe. (PAP)