The Treatment of Mental Health Patients

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. This is especially true in the treatment of mental health patients. For patients unable to adequately express their feelings verbally, the best approach is to allow them to speak through their art. This is especially true of children who often have problems talking about their painful experiences.
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy. Through the use of artistic expressions and other diagnostic procedures, doctors will be able to more accurately treat patients. The patients’ artistic expressions — through sketches, paintings or even sculptures — help still their erratic mind, allowing them to focus on their creation. This therapeutic process slowly helps them to contain the turmoil in their minds.
University Malaya Head of Department of Psychological Medicine Professor Dr. Hussain Habil says: “Sometimes disturbed people cannot tell others about their feelings and thoughts. Art therapy not only allows them to tell their stories, it is also a healing process. “Through art, doctors will be able to analyse what they have gone through, what is on their minds and recommend the appropriate treatment.”
Hussain says one of his patients refused to talk about her problem. For several sessions, she remained silent and uncooperative. Realising that the normal approach was not working, he decided to give her paper and colourful crayons, and encouraged her to draw anything she wanted.
She began to open up. Her sketches were dark and gloomy, reflections of her severe depression. She had been sexually and physically abused, and using her paintings, she communicated her traumatic experiences. Hussain says art therapy is not a cure for mental illness, rather it is one of the methods to better understand patients and help them on their road to recovery.
Often, the public has the misconception that patients with mental illness are dangerous so they are afraid to approach them. But the patients need someone to understand what