Meno terapijos galimybės siekiant pagerinti gyvenimo kokybę

Abstract

Straipsnyje, remiantis atliktu klinikiniu praktiniu tyrimu (gyvenimo kokybės įvertinimo klausimynu), kuris statistiškai patikimai patvirtina meno terapijos naudingumą sužadinant paciento emocinius bei dvasinius išgyvenimus ir pagerinant fizinę būklę, siekiama atskleisti meno terapijos taikymo reikšmingumą psichikos ligoniams. Mental health is defined as the sensation of feeling good, positive emotional and spiritual condition, allowing a person to enjoy the fullness of life, to experience pain and sorrow. Nowadays mental health is acknowledged all over the world as one of the most important elements of public health, which requires new qualitative and quantitative investments and decisions. In Lithuania the stigma and discrimination due to mental disorder is intense, patients encounter strong resistance from the social environment, they lose ties with community, family, and they also encounter employment problems, their quality of life declines. Since the Strategy for Mental Health was passed in Lithuania (2007), which foresees rendering of comprehensive and effective help based on modern scientific knowledge, it is believable that art therapy (individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, institutional therapy) will be integrated into the infrastructure of public healthcare, education, social security and other sectors. Art therapy which was used a means of self expression in the 20th century, today is closely associated with psychotherapy, psychiatry, adopting new notions and categories from the arts, psychology and aesthetics. Methods applied in art therapy are also changing: means of therapeutic impact with physical, emotional and mental expressions are put into practice. In psychiatry, art therapy has advantages compared to traditional psychotherapy – artistic expression (such as storytelling, drawing, musical improvisation or body movement) provides safe space between patient and therapist, because verbal therapeutic process can be avoided and this can encourage maturation and creativity of the patient’s personality. Practical clinical research was conducted early in this year in Kaunas, which evaluated effects of art therapy on mental patients. It is the first research of such kind in Lithuania. [...].