Mentally illness has affected countless artists over the centuries – Vincent van Gogh and Salvador Dali, to name just two – and all have used their art as their channel to reach out to society.

This therapeutic method was first used to expedite the recovery of trauma victims after World War II in hospitals in Britain, a method that was later adopted by the Americans because of its success.

In the US, this therapy was expanded by two art educators, Edith Kramer and Margareth Naumburg, and integrated with medical treatment in the Veteran Affairs New York Harbour Healthcare System.

Scientific studies on expressive therapy were soon initiated to examine the psychological nature of art.

“There have been questions as to how art could cut the time for healing. It was later found out that being in hospital added stress to the patient as a result of being away from family, work and the thought of paying the hospital bills. Art helped in relieving the tension,” says Monty P Satiadarma, the first certified Indonesian art therapist in clinical psychology, whose mentor was Robert E Ault, holder of a master of fine arts degree and co-founder of the American Art Therapy Association.

Satiadarma was educated in the leading speciality psychiatric hospital of the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, which developed inventive therapeutic methods.

The foundation has since moved to Dallas.

He explains that neuroscience has found evidence of a relationship between art and the human limbic system, the brain. “When we draw or visualise something, we actually recollect memories and re-experience emotions that connect to the hypothalamus.”

The hypothalamus is an important area of the brain that links the endocrines and the nervous system, helping to control the pituitary gland particularly in response to stress.

According to Satiadarma, art, especially the visual arts, trigger the association process between memories and emotions and the values the person believes in.

As a result art helps to release pleasant, calming serotonin and oxytocin hormones.

Even if the artistic results appear horrifying for others to look at, the therapist says they have the same metabolic effect on the painter, relieving the tension as the person shares memories and emotions.

But as the results rely on the kind of association coming out, can art always be therapeutic?

“Not always without clinical psychology intervention,” Satiadarma admits.

This is where art therapists step in to diagnose mental conditions and to alternate the way the person channels their emotions.

“If a patient tends to paint flames, an art therapist could suggest the patient paint candlelight instead,” says Satiadarma, explaining that different painting techniques also have different psychological effects.

“You cannot allow someone with an anxiety disorder to colour an object repetitively because it may increase stress.”

The professor of Tarumanegara University in Jakarta leads the teaching of art therapy in the postgraduate programme of psychology studies, in which students are required to master arts and to take on clinical patients.

The Tarumanegara Art Therapy Community is currently holding a series of exhibitions and seminars on different topics through to April at the Oasis Heritage Restaurant on Jl Raden Saleh, Central Jakarta.

The art therapists exhibited their works in January side-by-side with the works of their patients and of the community of Bipolar Care Indonesia.

Two paintings in particular on display, done by a patient in the early period of treatment, depicted his imagination of hell.

The painter was a Balinese who had adult schizoid personality disorder and was living at Panti Sosial in Kedoya, West Jakarta, the Jakarta administration’s official rehabilitation home for the homeless and other less fortunate people.

“I took him on as a patient and he now lives as a painter back home in Bali,” said Annisa Prameswari, who was completing her postgraduate degree.

Unlike other patients who hide their identity in their works, Anindhita Lakshmi Ardhanarishvara, 27, enjoyed seeing her works included in the exhibition.

While making the abstract series of paintings, titled “Cotton Candy and Flower Bursts”, she said she let go of the baggage she had carried.

“I didn’t plan the paintings to be like these. I splashed paints on the canvas and I felt calm afterward,” said the student of interior design and who has been diagnosed as bipolar.

For most clinical cases, the patients are required to take regular medication.

“Art therapy is not a curative method but it promotes the improvement of well-being and personal development,” Satiadarma says.