By: Laura Drenkow

“Art therapy allows us to express and experience thoughts and feelings when words fail. It is a tool that can help provide access to those hidden feelings that often contain the key to our struggles.” -Amanda Bechtel

 I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with our new art therapist, Amanda Bechtel, who sees clients in our Greenbelt office on Fridays.  Amanda received her Master’s degree in art therapy from Mount Mary College in Wisconsin.  She currently works at Sheppard Pratt in a group setting, but is also branching out to private practices to do individualized therapy.  Her specialty is assisting patients who have eating disorders by teaching them to express their feelings through art.  Amanda teaches her patients to be completely free and expressive; they do not need to have any artistic ability to create a masterpiece.  The goal of her art therapy is to allow her patients to connect with their feelings.  She provides a wide range of materials and mediums, some of which can be associated with a certain type of mood. 

I did an exercise with her by testing out different types of materials such as pencils, water color paints, and markers.  It was interesting to pay attention to how smooth and free it felt to use a paintbrush; however, it felt more constrained to use a pencil because it was easier to control the outcome of the artwork.  I learned from Amanda that it is good to allow individuals who feel the need to control many aspects of their life to have them express their feelings through painting rather than another material such as drawing.  This can help them realize that it is okay have some freedom with their actions.  Also, I learned that certain colors can be associated with moods.  An individual who is feeling angry or stressful may choose to use red while an individual who is feeling happy or carefree may choose to use yellow. 

Amanda does several interesting projects with her clients; two of my favorites were creating altered books and doing a body trace.  An altered book is created by utilizing an old book and making a collage or series of pictures over the pages of the book.  It is similar to a diary, but of only pictures.  A body trace is when she traces the body of her patient on a large piece of white paper.  First, however, the patient draws how they depict their own body.  Then when Amanda traces their real body, they can see the difference between their perception of their body and their actual body.  People with a distorted body image see themselves to be larger than they really are.  This is a good way to display reality. 

I learned from Amanda that people can be very creative, though they may struggle with expressing their feelings. It is not an easy thing to try and explain how you are feeling to someone or to yourself, but art therapy to me seems less intimidating than talk therapy.  For some people, it is just easier to express feelings by drawing a picture than trying to explain it in words; sometimes words cannot adequately explain how one feels.  Someone may not even realize that they are feeling a certain emotion until they begin to do an art project so it allows them to connect with their emotions.  They may not be sure what is going on internally, but they can create a picture and be able to describe it. 

This is Amanda’s goal: helping individuals with disordered eating habits to become aware of feelings and learn to express them in healthy ways.  To learn more about Amanda’s art therapy, please visit her website. Talk to your dietitian about setting up an appointment with Amanda or you can reach Amanda directly at 202-455-5894!