Therapeutic photography is taking off in the healing arts community. People are using it for personal healing, exploring their journeys in recovery, and finding other people who share similar experiences with mental health and addiction that want to find an avenue of expression through photography. There are many benefits to exploring this medium, it just takes some understanding of what you’re looking for to see how to tap into its potential in your life.
Benefits of Visual Art
People are drawn to therapeutic photography because of its capacity to bring healing and joy to a person’s journey of recovery. Art, in itself, allows them to express feelings and emotions they might be suppressing. Life experiences, challenges in recovery, and opportunities may be just a few of the ways people seek to form an identity with art. Some other benefits include:
- Form of self-expression
- Being able to ‘escape’ from life for a time and process emotions through a different medium
- Art reduces stress by lowering stress hormones
- Emotional writing and photography can be a good combination and help people process differently than just one or the other medium
Nature-Based Healing
Mindfulness is a good practice, proven to help people who are suffering from mental health issues. If you take photographs, sometimes this can become a form of mindfulness. Art helps people look at their experiences differently. Rather than create photos like an art exhibit, it becomes less about getting feedback on good photographs, and more about seeking to take moments for yourself that are healing. Visual art also has another benefit called ‘psychological resiliency.’ Dopamine is increased through this process, which makes people feel better. They are more likely to help prevent depressive-like behaviors. A person’s perspective on themselves and the world can be changed through the process of taking pictures. People use art therapy all the time to heal themselves and offer healing to others. The key is to look at what you want in your life and find some time and space to explore how you want to do your own recovery for healing. When you take ownership of your recovery, you are more likely to stay stable and less likely to relapse. Some tips to get started can include going outside to photograph what you see, take pictures of your daily life that might seem mundane and put thoughts into them, and take some friends out or meet up with a group to try and find opportunities to look at things in a new and different way. This will help you on the journey of recovery to see things from a new lens and capture life in a different way.
Oceanfront will help you kick addiction to the curb with our premier beachfront community in Laguna Beach. We are founded on the principle of providing the best in care and services at affordable prices. We are located in beautiful Laguna Beach. Call us to find out how we can help you navigate addiction recovery: 877-279-1777
