Art and emotional issues

Art of any kind in itself is a self expression.Where the inner emotion becomes a constructive outward manifestation.Art is used everyday to alleviate feelings of anxiety, crisis, inadequacy, and whatever the mind may perceive as a threat in life.It is also used widely to help with many mental instabilities ranging from autism to schizophrenia among many others.Art helps the inside reach the outside.We live in a world where medications to mask symptoms have unfortunately become a way of life and given the growing number of mental issues the medications have become easier than handling the problem with a little more caring and emotion.Now art alone may not alleviate the issues completely but, it is proven to help.It allows anyone suffering from any mental issue to explore,find, and sometimes address the issues at hand.Something between art and the human mind finds what we may consciously not be approaching and doctors simply just don't have the time to find.I know personally being plagued with panic attacks and a past of addiction that art was a dramatic help.Without art I believe that on a mental level my progress would have been hindered a bit.Art has helped me go from at one time being stuck in the house to now being an upstanding member of the community.Now don't get me wrong I am still hindered slightly by not being able to go on a 4 hour ride somewhere cause of the fear that still exists inside of me but, the art has helped me dramatically in exploring those fears and why they exist.Through the art I can take a fear and make it into something positive rather than negative.Many people explore medications as an approach to get rid of an existing problem.There is nothing wrong with that but,I believe that if you were to address the issue with something constructive if it be art or not that the issue will dissipate.Now I have had people say well isn't that just masking the symptoms also? And to a point yes.There is also an underlying factor here though.The brain being as amazing as it is functions all day long even as we sleep.The brain is always running variables and scenarios.So if given a constructive outlet is the brain capable of healing itself to a degree?The art giving the mind the chance to vent so to speak would be the same as being in the woods getting out a good scream.Art has been around since before the spoken word.Since then it has been a form of expression.Maybe even the precursor to speech but again the brain being as intricate as it is found a way to get out what was dwelling so deep within.When I think about Mozart and the many others who overcame things through the arts is this something so deeply instilled in us that we neglect to explore for lack of silly things like people saying well I can't create or I am no good at that stuff?Is art this mechanism built into us to help us deal with life's many issues?Maybe, but just a random thought today.If given the right funds or opportunity I will be sure to explore in more depth.Art isn't just a picture or a style its a way of life and in my opinion a very constructive one.Thank you for anyone taking the time to read this it is appreciated. C. Raab