Since 2010, the number of teenagers committing suicide has increased by 31% (Twenge). Since 2000, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder has risen from 1 in 150 to 1 in 68 (“Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD]”). Since 1995, the number of children seeking mental health treatment has nearly doubled (Olfson). With the steady increase of mental health issues in America’s youth, more variety and reliability in mental health treatments is imperative. A number of different medications and therapies have answered this call, including art therapy, the “emerging new discipline whose practice has diversified across an increasingly wide range of client groups since the mid-1980s” (Evans 99). A form of intervention based on psychoanalytic theory, art therapy …show more content…
The qualities of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can vary from child to child, as the symptoms lie on a spectrum (Cavazos 36). However, some of its characteristics “include a tendency to withdraw from social contact and an increased sensitivity to stimuli… such as sounds, smells, and tactile materials,” which interferes with the development of the child’s conversational skills (Cavazos 36). Art therapy is particularly helpful to those who have trouble verbally expressing themselves, as instead of communicating through words, the client communicates through the creation of art (Cavazos 41). Because creating art involves “a complex developmental process,” art therapy can assist not only the psychological and emotional development of the client, but also the behavioral and cognitive development (Evans 101). What’s more, the pre-representational drawing activities involved in art therapy provide a child affected by ASD with a solid foundation of communicative skills, increasing the likelihood that the client will use verbal language (Evans 101). Caroline Case and Tessa Dalley, the authors of The Handbook of Art Therapy, claim that art therapy can help reduce the amount of anxiety surrounding social and emotional communication experienced by youth diagnosed with ASD when incorporated into their specialized schools or centers, as art therapy fosters a non-verbal and non-threatening environment (“Evidence In-Sight” 7). The increase in diagnoses of ASD “and the way art therapy allows for clients to express themselves without [using] words, has brought the disorder and treatment together in various studies,” including a study performed on 66 students with ASD (Cavazos 36, 37). The goal of the study was to improve the student’s social skills through the introduction of art and play therapy. This goal was met, as at the end of