Hello
I'll share with you today
my art therapy books and
a couple of my favorites from my overall book collection.
So the first book
I have in mind is
The Handbook of Art Therapy.
And this is by Cathy Malchiodi.
And she is
one of the most well known art therapists
in this field
and this book is mostly about the
theories and approaches in art therapy
and how it can work with different psychotherapy
approaches
so this
is very focused on
helping those
who are already in the field of art therapy
and working as an art therapist.
So this is in depth and does
require some knowledge in psychology theory.
So this might not be something you want to read
as a first book or as an introduction to
art therapy, so I also have in mind
another book by Cathy Malchiodi.
That one is called the Art Therapy Sourcebook.
That one is really great
for anyone to read and
it might have been one of the first
books I read about art therapy, and
it just gives you all the basics about what is art therapy
and how you can apply
art therapy approaches.
It actually gives you some concrete,
easy to do exercises that you can
do on your own at home.
So it is wonderful for people
who are looking for introductory art therapy books. So I really recommend
anyone who wants to read
about art therapy to read Cathy Malchiodi's
Art Therapy Sourcebook.
The second book that I want to share with you
as my favorites is, Barbara Ganim's
Art and Healing.
So I don't actually have that with me right now,
but I remember reading it
several years ago when I first
learned about art therapy and it was
really awesome how she explained
healing through the power of art and
healing through expressive art making.
And she guides you
through these exercises and prompts
that really helps you to
look inside yourself and really,
it's great for self discovery
it's great for people who are
struggling with a physical illness and
find that strength within themselves
and use art in that process.
So the third book I want to share
with you is
Pat Allen's Art is a Way of Knowing.
And this is really a
precious book and I just
love this book so much.
I really love Pat Allen's approach to art therapy
and in this book
she shares so much about her own
personal process of using art
as a way to learn more about herself
and really it inspires you to do the same.
So, it really
goes in depth about the
discoveries that she makes, the things that she learns,
the difficulties she runs into, the challenges,
the inner critic that comes up
sometimes. It was really nice to read about that
and feel like I'm not alone in my struggles.
So
This is really great for someone who want to
be inspired by an art therapist
to understand yourself more
through art.
So the last art therapy book that
I want to share with you all
that is a favorite of mine is
Art Heals book by
Shaun McNiff.
And this one I actually recently started reading
and I haven't finished yet, but
this is so awesome. I've really been
enjoying his writing so much.
Because he really
goes in depth about why
art therapy works and he really connects
it well to
spirituality, to
existential questions,
how art can solve that. And he really shares
so much about what happens when
we make art -
the difficulties we face,
the things that we discover, the progress that we make
and because he's an art therapist,
he shares a lot about his work with
different kinds of people,
clients, populations,
and how they kind of grow,
and you can also see artworks in here.
So this is one of the most, to me
I think, spiritual and
very moving writing
about art therapy
and what it can do to our lives.
So I have
2 more books that I want to share
and these are not art therapy books
but these are just my favorites from
just my whole collection of
books that I have
at home (mostly personal development related).
The first one I want to share is -
I have so many
bookmarks on this because I go back to it
so many times, that's how much I love
this book, and
this is the Dark Side of the Light Chasers by
Debbie Ford.
And I found this book several years ago and I can't even remember
how I found it, but
it has really changed my life
on how I view others and how I
view myself. So if you are
really looking for a book
to heal yourself and to change your perspective
on things so that
you can feel more
at peace, calm, and confident
in yourself,
then this is really the book you want to go for.
And it's so mind-blowing when you first read it. ☺︎
The other book that I want to
share is
You Can Heal Your Life by
Louise Hay.
And Louise Hay is such an amazing person,
and she has been such a
great teacher to so many people
who've been struggling with physical illness,
mental health issues, (relationships issues, emotional issues) and
basically she tells you that in order to
heal your body and other mental health issues
you really need to look at
what you are believing,
and what kinds of
believes you are holding onto
that might be negative that you want to let go of.
So the one thing that she really preaches is
that all or
most of the problems we have in life,
especially physical problems or
emotional problems in life are
caused by
our lack of self-love
So she goes really in depth about
what kind of lack of self-love, or what kind of fear that we have
that might be causing
or causing the continuation of the illness/problem,
or an emotional state.
So I hope you enjoyed my
list of favorite art therapy books
and just favorites from
my overall collection.
If you have a favorite book
of your own that is art therapy related or just healing related
or any other kind of book,
please share in the comments below - I would love to know
what's a good book that I can read next.
So thank you for watching, I'll see you next time.
Bye.