I wanted to talk to you today about art activities you can do that might help with depression. And it’s so interesting because you can’t just go “Well here, this activity will solve depression”. It’s not the way it works. But as I was thinking about what would I do if someone came to me and said “I’m working on depression. What art activities could you give me?” I had to think about it and what I would ask them to do. And so what you could do if you wanted to.
Draw depression for me
I would ask them to draw depression. What does it look like? How big is it? What color is it or colors? What sort of shape is it? How far away from your body is it? What size is it? And compared to you? I want you to give it a name. Shall we call it fluffy? Probably not. But maybe. Does it have a name like depression or sadness or the cloud or the black dog? or something else? or just a name like Roger or Amy. Sorry Rogers and Amys, I didn’t mean to call you depression.
Externalising
This is called externalizing. If we have an image and a name of this thing, outside of you, then we can work with it more. So let’s say you have this picture. Remember that art doesn’t have to look like something specific. It can be any image that you – that you – represents it for you. And we have a name and maybe we’ll put this up somewhere on the wall. Maybe not somewhere where you see it, you know, where it’s gonna bring you down. But somewhere where you could start having a conversation with it.
Talk to your picture
What would you ask depression if it was there? And what do you think it might say back? This is what I would ask somebody to do. Draw your feeling, your trial, your difficulty. Think about what it looks like. What it feels like. Is it warm or cold? Is a big or small? How does it interact with you? Think of it like a creature or a monster and what would you do? what would you say to it? What would it say to you? I think that would be really interesting. What do you think?
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