Summary: Today’s article includes two pieces: The first explains how art therapy can help teens manage anxiety and other pressures when putting feelings into words is difficult, and the second sketches art therapy’s origins and summarizes what research has found for adults and seniors. The teen-focused piece outlines what art therapy is, why it can work developmentally, what a typical session looks like, and how families can support creative expression at home and through local Mentis programs. The companion piece broadens the view, noting reported benefits for adults (stress, trauma, burnout) and for older adults (mood, cognition, social connection), with examples from published reviews and studies.
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — Adolescence is one of the most emotionally turbulent periods of human life. Teenagers today face a relentless barrage of pressures — from academic expectations and social comparison to shifting identities and family dynamics. For many, these pressures manifest as anxiety, depression or a quiet sense of disconnection.
While many teenagers struggle to put these intense feelings into words, art steps in as a vital bridge. Art therapy is a clinically recognized form of psychotherapy that uses the creative process to help individuals express emotions that are difficult to verbalize.
What Is Art Therapy?
Art therapy is a mental health profession that combines psychological theory with the creative process. It guides individuals through drawing, painting, sculpting and collage with therapeutic goals in mind.
It is important to distinguish art therapy from a standard art class:
Process over product: The goal is not to produce “beautiful” work or develop technical skill.
Internal focus: What matters is the internal experience — the emotions that surface and the choices made during creation.
Emotional value: A scribbled drawing done in anger can carry more therapeutic value than a carefully rendered portrait.
Why Art Works When Words Fail
The teenage brain is still developing; The prefrontal cortex, responsible for rational thought and verbal articulation, is not fully mature until the mid-20s. Meanwhile, the limbic system, which governs emotional response, is highly active. This means teenagers feel emotions intensely but often lack the cognitive tools to describe them.
Art therapy offers a different entry point:
Externalization: By painting or sculpting an image of their anxiety, a teenager brings a trapped internal state into the physical world where it can be examined and addressed.
Managing the formless: Anxiety often feels like a formless, overwhelming distress; creating a visual representation gives it a finite shape.
Trauma processing: Traumatic memories are often stored in parts of the brain inaccessible through language. Image-making can reach these stored experiences more directly than words.
The Science of Stress Reduction
Anxiety is a prevalent challenge for today’s youth, driven by social media, global crises and economic uncertainty. Research consistently supports art therapy as a powerful intervention:
The 45-Minute Effect: A study published in the journal Art Therapy found that just 45 minutes of creative artmaking significantly reduced cortisol levels (the body’s primary stress hormone) in participants, regardless of their artistic experience.
Beyond hormone regulation, the rhythmic and repetitive motions involved in weaving, collage or mark-making activate the parasympathetic nervous system — the body’s “rest and digest” state — counteracting the physiological stress response of anxiety
What to Expect in a Session
A typical 45- to 60-minute session with a licensed professional usually involves a brief check-in, a creative activity (such as “paint a place where you feel safe”) and a reflective conversation.
The therapist observes without judgment and asks open questions such as, “What was it like to make this?” or “What does this part of the image feel like?” Over time, this builds self-awareness and emotional vocabulary.
Supporting Expression at Home
Families can normalize creative expression as a healthy part of emotional life without needing to “be” the therapist.
Accessibility: Keep sketchbooks, watercolors or clay readily available without requiring a specific outcome.
Privacy: Respect that a teenager’s art does not always need to be shared or explained.
Curiosity over evaluation: When art is shared, respond with curiosity rather than praise. Ask “What was going on when you made this?” instead of “Is it supposed to be a...?”
Digital outlets: Encourage digital illustration or photography for teens who might be more comfortable with technology than traditional “messy” media.
For teens who thrive with peer connection, Mentis offers Monthly Meetups—free, in-person gatherings open to all high schoolers ages 13 to 19. Each month, teens come together for art projects, wellness workshops, music and conversation in a judgment-free space designed around self-expression and community. No experience required and no outcome expected.
Taking the Next Step
Locally, Mentis offers a full continuum of support for teens ages 12 to 20 through its Teens Connect programs — from Wellness Cafés at every NVUSD middle and high school to peer-led Teen Council empowerment clubs to individual and group clinical therapy. Whether a teen needs a safe space to open up among peers or structured support from a clinician, these programs meet them where they are. To learn more, visit mentisnapa.org/teens-connect or call 707.255.0966 ext. 132.
In a world that asks teenagers to “post the highlight reel” and say they are fine, art therapy offers a rare, radical space to be honestly, messily and fully human.
Mental Healthcare Services
If you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If you or someone you love needs mental health or wellness support, please visit our Mentis Community and Youth Resource Database. Mentis is one of Napa’s oldest nonprofits and provides bilingual, affordable mental health services to people of every age and income level.
If you are a veteran or someone who supports a veteran in crisis, call the Veterans Crisis Line at 988 and press 1, or text 838255 for 24/7, confidential support — no VA enrollment required.
Renay Conlin is the newly appointed development director at Mentis
Art Therapy: Beyond Adolescence
By Tim Carl
A brief history — and what the research says for adults and seniors
Art therapy as a formal discipline traces to World War II. In 1942, British artist Adrian Hill coined the term while recovering from tuberculosis at a sanatorium, after noticing that drawing and painting accelerated his own recovery and gave fellow patients a sense of control and purpose. His 1945 book, “Art Versus Illness,” was the first to document the approach.
In the United States, Margaret Naumburg — widely called the “mother of art therapy” — developed what she named “dynamically oriented art therapy” in the early 1940s. Drawing on Freudian psychoanalytic theory, she encouraged patients to produce spontaneous imagery as a form of symbolic communication, allowing the unconscious to bypass speech. She began publishing clinical cases in 1943 and released her first major book in 1947.
Austrian-born artist Edith Kramer offered a second founding theory. After immigrating to the United States in 1938, she proposed that the creative process itself — not its interpretation — was the healing mechanism. She later founded the art therapy graduate program at New York University. By the 1960s, Drexel University’s Hahnemann Medical College had launched one of the first formal master’s programs in the field. The American Art Therapy Association was established in 1969.
Today, licensed art therapists hold master’s degrees and practice across hospitals, outpatient clinics, schools, veterans’ centers, and long-term-care facilities. The field has expanded well beyond its roots in adolescent and psychiatric care.
Adults: Managing Chronic Stress and Trauma
For working-age adults, art therapy has built a substantial evidence base around anxiety, depression, trauma and workplace burnout. A 2018 systematic literature review published in “Frontiers in Psychology” examined quantitative studies from 2000 to 2017 and found that the majority of controlled trials reported measurable improvement in emotional health outcomes for adult clients — including those with anxiety disorders, non-psychotic psychiatric conditions and chronic pain.
The proposed mechanism mirrors what the main article describes for teenagers: the rhythmic, absorptive quality of mark-making may activate the parasympathetic nervous system and support cortisol regulation, interrupting the physiological cycle of stress. For adults dealing with trauma, art-making may reach stored memories that remain difficult to access through verbal therapy alone — though researchers note these pathways are still being studied.
Workplace applications have also been studied. Multiple small studies have examined art therapy as an intervention for professionals in high-stress environments, finding reductions in burnout and improvements in emotional regulation. The approach does not require artistic skill; outcomes appear consistent across experience levels.
Seniors: Cognitive and Social Benefits
The evidence for older adults is especially robust for certain outcomes. Art therapy has been shown to benefit seniors across several overlapping domains: emotional regulation, cognitive function, social connection and quality of life. A 2022 scoping review published in Frontiers in Psychology found four recurring themes in the literature — improved cognitive performance, enhanced self-identity, reduced depression and a greater sense of meaningful life.
For seniors with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia, visual art activities engage memory, attention, executive function and spatial processing simultaneously. A 2020 pilot study in Arts in Psychotherapy found that a six-week expressive arts therapy program produced significant improvements in general cognitive function, language ability, anxiety and depression in adults with mild cognitive impairment, compared to a waitlist control group.
Social isolation — one of the strongest predictors of cognitive decline in older adults — is also addressed by group art-therapy formats. Studies document that group sessions build social bonds and reduce loneliness, both of which have documented effects on physical health outcomes. Research cited in a Harvard Medical School neuropsychologist’s work has suggested that mental and social engagement through creative activities may help protect against cognitive decline.
Depression is common among older adults — some geriatric studies estimate it affects up to around 30% of those over 65, though figures vary by setting and definition. Art therapy has shown particular promise as a non-pharmacological intervention for this population. A drawing-based life review program studied over six weeks reduced depressive symptoms and improved what researchers describe as “ego integrity” — a sense of coherence and acceptance in one’s life story.
What the Research Shows
Art therapy shows consistent evidence of benefit across most outcomes for both adults and seniors, with seniors showing stronger results in social and cognitive domains. The one area where evidence remains less well studied for adults — cognitive function — is also where seniors show some of the most promising findings, particularly for those with mild cognitive impairment.
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The views, opinions and data presented in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or perspective of Napa Valley Features or its editorial team. Any content provided by our authors is their own and is not intended to malign any group, organization, company or individual.
thank you -- excellent and thought-inspiring piece --- especially when one considers the life-long benefits of continued engagement with creating art, in whatever form