Healthy expression: Art therapy proves useful in helping patients dealing with stress, long recovery

Since 1994, the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and Southeast Missouri Hospital have put into use a therapy demonstrating the healing power of art with the help of an annual exhibit called "Art for the Health of It." The exhibit focuses on providing a relaxing atmosphere for patients, their families, visitors and employees.

Barb McKeon, the hospital's employee counselor, oversees a cancer support group and provides counseling for cardiac rehabilitation patients. McKeon said the exhibit gives extra attention to the concept of art therapy, a form of coping for patients dealing with stress related to health problems and recovery.

"Art therapy is an old form of therapy that has been used for diagnosis and treatment by mainly counselors and therapists," McKeon said.

Both creating and viewing art can be useful for patients, she said, because it can take them to another dimension, where they can release frustrated and angry feelings related to their health situation.

McKeon said art therapy is especially useful for diagnosis purposes with children, because it helps the child to portray in picture form things that are happening in their life, and the therapist can question them about those things.

For others, a stressful event -- becoming handicapped after an accident or a long recovery from a major surgery -- leads patients to seek help, where McKeon will often recommend art therapy.

"Different patients have different ideas about art. Some it will appeal to, some it will not, but you still want to encourage them to take it up, and see if it will work well for them," McKeon said.

She said the patients she has worked with who have used art therapy, either by creating their own art or taking time to view it, are better able to express their anger or stress.

McKeon said patients who choose to take up painting or another artistic practice feel relief in being able to express themselves by using strong techniques or colors.

With patients who simply view art, she said the experience helps them bring forward memories or feelings they might have suppressed, or they might see something entirely different from what the average person sees. Those revelations are enlightening and useful for therapists.

McKeon also said art therapy is an opportunity for patients who have become handicapped to get back into the stream of life. She said it can be hard for patients to return to a normal routine and to all the things they used to do. Art therapy helps them find something new to do.

"It's a vehicle for them to rejoin society, because they can no longer get up and do things, but by the stroke of a paintbrush this can be a means to get them resurrected again," she said.

In the past, two of her patients have created art and submitted it to the "Art for the Health of It" exhibit, which is open to artists in a 175-mile radius of Cape Girardeau. One patient, she said, was extremely stressed after becoming handicapped. Creating and entering his art in the show helped the patient regain an interest in the practice, as well as allowing a means of expression and building self esteem.

McKeon said the exhibit also affects visitors and employees.

"We have heard in the hospital many times, that when the paintings come down, they miss it," she said. "Some of the pictures touch them in a very special way."

She said those who view the exhibit may remember happier moments, and those feelings help them with current stress.

"It provides them with a moment of relief and I think that's been very good for them," she said.

Patients in the hospital often visit the exhibit by request of their visitors.

"Even just going to an art show is a means of relaxation," McKeon said.

The exhibit will hang outside the surgical waiting room on the hospital's first floor until April 29. This year's exhibit was judged by Emily Booth, a professor of art and gallery coordinator from Southeast Missouri State University. Booth selected 60 pieces from 120 submissions by 41 artists. Dave Walker of Jackson won Best of Show for a fabric piece entitled "Bamboo Pagoda" during the opening reception.