By activating both the right and left hemispheres of the brain, through drawing and verbal reflecting, with emphasis on the page, issues can be brought into awareness, explored, clarified, and worked through.
Interactive Drawing Therapy (IDT) is a process in which the client interprets the work, and the therapist facilitates his/her self-reflection, allowing the subconscious to reveal information via words, feelings and images that are layered on to the page.
There are many applications of IDT in a clinical setting, and at North Shore & City Hypnotherapy Sydney, IDT may be integrated into the sessions with adults and children, couples and families.
Basically the page becomes a mirror where clients experience reflections of different parts of their subconscious, giving them greater understanding and insight from an objective point of view.
As words, images and feelings are layered onto the page, clients move from their external world into their internal world and from conscious to subconscious responses with metaphors and symbols, surface to deeper level allowing therapeutic change to occur with guidance. Clients have an amazing array of resources that we can tap into and bring healing to all kinds of situations.
Useful for working with children, adolescents / teenagers, adults and the elderly, intellectually or physically challenged people, clients who find it difficult to talk about the past or about their issues.
IDT is also helpful for:
Anxiety and panic disorders
Bad habits and addictions
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Clients experiencing shock from natural / man-made disasters
Depression
Eating disorders (e.g., compulsive overeating, binge eating, bingeing & purging, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, exercise bulimia)
Fears and phobias
Fertility
Grief and loss
Insomnia
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
Medical issues
Memory, focus and concentration
Motivation
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Pain
Past trauma, and/or physical, psychological or sexual abuse / manipulation
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Procrastination
Relationship problems
Self-harm or self-mutilation
Self-esteem
Stress
Sexual problems
Sleep disorders
Trust issues
Weight loss
…and many more!
IDT can also be used as a therapeutic tool to highlight and/or verify progress in a client’s journey towards their desired outcome, and to draw out (literally!) strengths and inner resources for resilience and empowerment.
Absolutely no artistic skills are required whatsoever!