Art Therapy for Eczema

Every day, art therapist Anya Beebe, MA, opens the doors of her therapy room, organizes her array of crayons, clay and other art materials, and asks kids to open their creative minds. When children enter the art therapy room, they enter a safe place where they can make art that expresses their feelings about their illness.  And for children who have eczema (atopic dermatitis), art therapy has also proven to be a fun distraction for those little scratching fingers.

 

How does art therapy help?

Art therapy helps reduce the stress of being in a hospital setting and has been shown to be an effective way to help children cope with having a chronic illness.

Since it is often difficult for many children to talk about their worries and frustrations about their illness, art therapy allows them to communicate visually. This usually leads to discussions about what their art projects mean to them. The art therapy sessions also allow children, who may have felt isolated because of their condition, interact with other children who have similar issues.

 

What do children do during art therapy?

At National Jewish, children with eczema are prescribed a daily skin treatment that involves taking baths three times a day and wrapping the body in wet cloths. As part of art therapy, Anya has each child decorate a stuffed doll and mark where they have eczema “ouchies.” Then she shows them how the wet wraps will be placed on the body by demonstrating the treatment on the doll. This helps ease some of the child’s fears about the treatment.

Another art therapy project involves decorating a mask to show how the child feels when he or she has eczema. At the end of the program, the children decorate another mask to show how they feel after treatment. Anya says the dramatic difference between the two masks indicates the effectiveness of the treatment plan.

But art therapy doesn’t need to end once a child walks away from the art table. Anya gives every child an “Art Activity Bag.” Children with eczema tend to scratch themselves constantly, so the art supplies and the distraction toys in the Art Activity Bags help the children keep their hands busy. These Art Activity Bags are a big hit and seem to do the trick in terms of distracting attention from eczema’s most irritable symptom.

 

NJ4kids Pediatric Day Program

Kids who participate in the NJ4kids Pediatric Day Program are treated at National Jewish for an average of two weeks. While the children are in the Day Program, they receive medical treatment for their eczema as well as psych/social attention to help the children and their families cope with the stressors that go along with having a serious illness. Art therapy is an integral part of the Pediatric Day Program, and has accomplished great results for a variety of psych/social issues that can arise due to chronic illness.

Funding for the art therapy program comes entirely from donations.

 

Learn more about art therapy at National Jewish.

View art projects from previous patients of National Jewish.

 

This information has been approved by Anya Beebe, MA , (January 2008).