Experiential therapy
Experiential therapy is a diverse category of therapeutic approaches that emphasize expression, interaction, and hands-on activities to help individuals re-experience and process difficult emotions in a safe environment. This modality often incorporates various artistic forms such as dance, music, writing, and visual arts, as well as experiential activities like equine therapy, adventure therapy, and wilderness therapy. By engaging in these creative and physical expressions, patients can access subconscious emotions and experiences, allowing them to examine and address these feelings more effectively.
Historically, experiential therapy evolved from existential and Gestalt therapies, which focused on the whole person and their current awareness, rather than specific issues. It became widely used in the 1970s and serves to support individuals dealing with trauma, behavioral disorders, addictions, and anxiety, among other challenges. In sessions, tasks or creative expressions enable patients to discuss difficult memories more comfortably while also providing therapists with insights into their behaviors in a more natural context.
Research suggests that experiential therapy can be particularly effective in treating trauma and emotional regulation, with specific methods like music and equine-assisted therapy showing promising results. Ultimately, this therapeutic approach fosters self-awareness, empowerment, and emotional growth, encouraging individuals to express themselves and develop a healthier perception of their experiences.
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Experiential therapy
Experiential therapy is not one specific type of psychological therapy but instead is a category of different therapeutic approaches that use various forms of expression, interaction, and hands-on activity to re-create and lead the patient to safely re-experience and process difficult emotions. Experiential therapy often makes use of artistic forms of expression such as dance, music, writing, painting or sculpture, and acting. In addition, other types of hands-on activities, such as caring for animals (equine therapy in particular), adventure therapy, and wilderness therapy, are also forms of experiential therapy. By expressing themselves artistically or physically through these avenues, patients are often able to access particular subconscious negative experiences or emotions in a more productive way, examine what they are feeling, and learn to address these issues. An additional benefit of experiential therapy is that it allows the therapist to view the patient's behavior in a more natural setting, rather than when the patient is specifically focused on the psychological issue at hand, as in traditional talk therapy.
Background
Researchers trace the history of experiential therapy to two different forms of therapy that were common in the middle of the twentieth century—existential therapy and Gestalt therapy. The basis of existential therapy was for the individual in treatment to realize their full potential, and was focused on the person and their mental health as a whole rather than any particular problematic drives or behaviors. This type of therapy postulates that people develop constructs of perception that are based on their experiences of themselves and the world around them, and recognizing and adjusting these constructs, if needed, can be beneficial in changing behavior and emotion.
Similarly, Gestalt therapy is also focused on the whole person. It is often used in group therapy and uses role-playing to encourage patients to perform activities that lead them to experience their fears or concerns rather than discuss them. Gestalt therapy is also focused on assisting the patient in developing an ongoing awareness of what is happening right now, in the moment, rather than being unconsciously driven by emotions or fears from previous experiences. This awareness leads to a more accurate perception of current events or interpretation of past events and, theoretically, an appropriate behavioral or emotional response. From these two approaches, experiential therapy evolved as a method of helping clients focus on what they are feeling in their bodies as they express themselves to re-create or discuss a particular emotion or event, in an attempt to bring subconscious thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or memories into the conscious mind where they may be effectively addressed. Experiential therapy became commonly used in the 1970s.
Overview
Experiential therapy is a widely used treatment modality, commonly employed to treat trauma, behavioral disorders, compulsive disorders and addictions, anger issues, depression and anxiety, and more. Its most common function is as a tool to help individuals effectively process and heal from past experiences by changing their emotional response to a particular event or relationship. It is often used in conjunction with other types of psychological therapy, such as traditional talk therapy, and may also be a component of rehabilitation programs for drug and alcohol addiction. A primary goal of experiential therapy is to help people become more aware of their subconscious views and biases that influence the way they perceive the world, themselves, and their own abilities—and how these perceptions may lead to unwanted behaviors, thoughts, or feelings.
In an experiential therapy session, the patient may be assigned a particular task—such as, in equine therapy, taking care of a horse. The therapist will usually speak to the person while they are completing the task in an attempt to allow the patient to more easily and comfortably discuss difficult memories or challenges. Other types of experiential therapy involve creative expression on behalf of the patient—playing music, creating a piece of art, writing a story or poem, or acting out an experience in a role-playing scenario. In music therapy, for example, the patient will use their instrument or singing voice to express emotions that may be too difficult to put into words, or to access emotions and sensations that exist below the conscious mind. In this case, the therapist will typically help the patient process their experience after it has concluded. The patient will be asked to consider specific bodily sensations, behaviors, or emotions that arose during the experience, and identify what may have prompted those responses. The therapist will also provide feedback on what they observed during the experience.
For children, play therapy is also a type of experiential therapy. Children may use toys such as dolls to express behaviors or emotions for which they do not yet have the language skills to discuss. Adventure or wilderness therapy are additional types of experiential therapy, in which the individual—usually as part of a group—completes an activity course or participates in an outing such as a camping trip, rock climbing, or boating. Adventure therapy is often focused primarily on interaction with others and interpersonal skill development rather than creative expression. Adventure therapy is often particularly effective with adolescents and children who may be resistant to more traditional talk therapy.
Some research indicates experiential therapy methods are most effective in treating cases of trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and emotional regulation. Individuals can process events more easily without demanding their verbal participation by engaging in art or other creative experiential methods. Music therapy and equine-assisted therapy appear to be most successful in improving emotional regulation, while adventure therapy or equine-assisted therapy are the most commonly used methods in patients with anxiety and depression.
Additional benefits often arise from experiential therapy. As clients complete specific tasks or increase their skill level, they are likely to experience a range of positive emotions. This helps them identify the feeling of success, improve their self-esteem, and learn how to identify and overcome obstacles, often leading to positive feelings of empowerment and emotional growth. Through experiential therapy, many patients are also able to have key insights into their patterns of behavior, their views of the world, and their own needs—learning that it is safe to express themselves and their desires in a productive way.
Bibliography
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