It’s Not Just For Kids! Art Therapy Is Good For Parents Too
When a child is diagnosed with a chronic health condition, the effects are felt across the entire family. All of a sudden, parents are forced to rearrange schedules and juggle more responsibilities. They strive to attend to their child’s new appointments, while continuing to meet deadlines at work and making sure that they don’t miss a beat at getting their other kids to school and soccer practice on time. All this while their heart is gently breaking inside as they witness their child experiencing pain and hardship.
We know that when a child gets diagnosed with a long standing condition, it increases parental emotional distress. We also know that kids pick up on how their parents cope with stress. If a child witnesses their parents coping or reacting in a particular way, the child learns that these are appropriate ways for them to also react in stressful situations.
So, what can be done to address the parent’s experience, knowing full well the influence it has on the child’s experience? While their parents feeling better and more relaxed is not going to change a child's diagnosis or heal them from their chronic condition, it can certainly improve their quality of life.
There was a small pilot study that looked at art therapy as a modality for addressing the emotional andpsychologicaldistressexperiencedbyparentalcaregiversofchildrenwithchronicpain. Art therapy is a master’s level profession that uses the creative arts to improve a person’s emotional, mental, and physical well-being. In this pilot study, 53 parent caregivers participated in art therapy modules that were offered 1 hour a week over the course of 4 weeks. Their children were enrolled in a hospital-based day rehabilitation program for their chronic, debilitating neuropathic pain.
The art therapy modules were specifically designed to address the parent’s experience of being a caregiver to a child with chronic pain. Parents completed a survey measuring levels of satisfaction, happiness, and perceived support at the end of each session. What this study found was that, although some parents felt nervous about starting an art therapy program, overall they found it helpful, enjoyed the experience, would recommend it to others, and felt validated in hearing the stories of other parents. While this study didn’t look at the clinical effects of whether improved parental scores affected their child’s pain scores, this would be an interesting area to look at in future studies.
Parents of children with chronic pain report feelings of helplessness and isolation. Art therapy, where the parent is literally in control of the art materials and what they create, puts a sense of control back into their hands. Additionally, doing art therapy in group sessions helps validate parental experiences and overcome feelings of isolation.
While this was a small pilot study, the implications are promising and far-reaching. Parental caregivers of children with chronic conditions experience emotional and psychological distress that needs to be addressed in a holistic, parent-focused way. Group art therapy for parental caregivers is one of many options to address this need.
Reference:
Pielech M, Sieberg CB, Simons LE. Connecting parents of children with chronic pain through art therapy. Clin Pract Pediatr Psychol. 2013 Sep 1;1(3):214-226. doi: 10.1037/cpp0000026. PMID: 24563827; PMCID: PMC3931442. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3931442/