About Us
Art therapy and Psychotherapy in English.
Matices-Psic is a Centre for Psychology, Speech Therapy, Art Therapy and Perinatality. We have offered our services in Castelldefels since 2002.
Our personalised attention is aimed at adults, adolescents, and children, and in these areas we carry out evaluation, diagnosis and therapeutic treatment.
Matices-Psic is made up of specialists in Speech Therapy, Clinical Psychology, Counseling psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis, Art Therapy Counseling and Psychoperinatality.
In our team we have teaching professionals who collaborate with different Universities in Barcelona.
We offer art therapy and Psychotherapy in English.
What is Art Therapy
Art therapy and Counseling is a type of therapy with a psychodynamic approach which facilitates the use of artistic materials such as paint, clay, cardboard, etc. as a means of expressing emotions and / or psychic conflicts that are difficult to express through words.
Our FEAPA-accredited art therapy practitioner has completed a Masters in Art therapy and has extensive knowledge in visual arts and psychotherapy.
The fields of application of art therapy extend to health, education and social assistance. We can find art therapists in different contexts such as education, geriatrics, mental health, palliative treatments, civic centres and private centres.
Art therapy in Spain
In Spain, the profession is only around 20 years old. In 1999, the first school of art therapists was founded in Barcelona. This is unlike countries such as the United Kingdom which has more than a century of experience, and representation in public and private centres where they work together with other healthcare professionals.
There are different ways of intervention within art therapy
You can work individually, in groups, in workshops or in open workshops.
Individual
Therapy is suggested for those who need a personal process to establish a closer relationship with the therapist and the work.
Group
Therapy is suggested for those who want to work on their social skills and are able to sustain the occasional pressures of being in a therapeutic group.
Closed groups
Where the group’s participants are always the same and there is a commitment to the collective.
Alternatively
There are semi-open groups, where it is agreed that other members can enter the group if the occasion requires.
Open studios or workshops
Found in institutions such as hospitals, prisons, residences, etc. where the institution already functions as a framework. These interventions focus on the formal and creative aspects of the work and not with the aim of building a space for thought around the work.
Do you have to know about art?
It can be offered to any person or group that has the desire to embrace the creative process, whether or not they have formal art education or experience,
Types of Intervention
Children
Working with art materials helps them to put into practice their daily difficulties and to learn to listen and solve conflicts in creative ways. It also helps to positively channel feelings of anger, anguish or sadness, and to cope with difficulties. This means of expression allows patients to relive past situations and thus be able to conquer them, through symbolisatio
Adolescents
High levels of anxiety in adolescence can sometimes be manifested in attacks of anger, discomfort, behavior problems or drug addiction, amongst others. Most of the time the goal of the therapist is to lower anxiety levels and provide tools to deal with everyday difficulties.
Adults
Sometimes we get frustrated when we find ourselves repeating patterns and we are not sure how to change. The language and the narratives that we build in relation to what happens to us can become entrenched and we have the feeling of not moving forward.
The benefits of art therapy:
- Express emotions that are difficult to verbalise.
- Enhance sensory stimulation.
- Enhance creative capacity that is reflected in the ability to make decisions, be flexible, and promote abstract thinking.
- The elaboration of the artistic work allows us to work on tolerance to frustration.
- The creative process helps us to work on self-control.
- The triangular relationship that is established between the patient, the therapist and the work allows greater security and self-esteem.
- Understanding our artistic production helps us understand our internal world and our subjectivity.
- Working with sensorial materials awakens archaic processes, memories and primary memories that allow to express oneself with the creative process and the image that the work returns.
- The image and the sensations that the work returns to us serve as an experiential memory and enable awareness of feelings and emotions.