Art Therapy and Stroke Patients

1 in every 4 persons has a stroke. So sadly, it’s likely that most of us have had experienced or know someone who has had a stroke. I am a part of that demographic. For me, that person was my uncle. I had never known a time where I didn’t see him in a wheelchair…

Art and Its Effect on Anxiety and Mental Illness

Although he is well-known for paintings such as The Starry Night and Cypresses, artist Vincent van Gogh’s life was not as bright and beautiful as his canvases made it seem. Van Gogh suffered from a variety of mental disorders throughout his lifetime, including depression and mania. What most people do not know, however, is that some of Van Gogh’s…

Music Therapy for Mood and Neurological Disorders

Mood disorders are a cause of disability across the world, and their prevalence is increasing rapidly through time. They can be debilitating for the people whom they affect, and can control one’s life. There are treatments for mood disorders, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for depression which maintain a greater concentration of serotonin in…

Art Therapy, Traumatic Brain Injuries & Depression

One day during my junior year of high school, on our walk down to the soccer field, my best friend told me that a fellow teammate had just been diagnosed with a concussion. What was originally supposed to be a mild head injury, eventually turned into over nine months of recovery and the loss of…

How Art Therapy is Helping Cancer Patients

When I was three years old, my little sister, who was 11 months old, was diagnosed with a Stage III Wilms’ Tumor. Wilms’ Tumors are kidney cancer and, luckily, have a high remission rate when caught early enough. My sister, Grace, was in treatment for just over a year. She turned one and two in…