I have a confession to make. Winter is my least favorite season. I know, I know, how could I dislike winter? Yeah, it is a festive time of the year, and the snow looks so pretty on the ground, but it is cold as ever outside! Who wants to be outside in that cold weather all the time? Not me! For those who also aren’t fond of this season, you might stay inside most of the time and avoid doing the activities that bring you joy. You may also begin to notice changes in your mood, or even your thoughts, and you may even begin to feel lonely. Why does winter have this effect on us?

It’s Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

SAD is a type of depression that is related to changes in the seasons, and it can begin and end at the same time every year. You heard that right:, the winter season can cause symptoms of depression. According to NAMI, the reduced level of sunlight in the fall and winter can cause winter-onset seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Because the winter season is known for daylight savings, which correlates with reduced sunlight, this can potentially cause a drop in serotonin that may trigger depression. You may be thinking, “well what can I do to combat this and improve my mood during the winter months?” You can try Art Therapy!

How Can Art Therapy Help You with the Winter Blues?

There are so many forms of art that you can utilize to express your feelings, increase your self-esteem and to brighten your mood. When combating SAD, art therapy can look like:

• Hand-painting t-shirts with “I AM” statements to help increase your self-worth.
• Coloring the outside of a blank journal with your personal design to help compile all of your thoughts. 
• Utilizing fabric markers to design blank shoes with positive affirmations statements.
• Painting wooden earrings to showcase your style and enlighten your mood. (You can find tons of blank wooden earrings on Amazon)
• Painting a picture utilizing the Jackson Pollock style to describe your mood at the moment. This can help to release any frustrations that you may have, and splattering paint everywhere is fun!
• Creating a vision board: This is a great motivation tool to help you focus more on your goals and to help you to get up and to start working on them.

These are just a few ways you can utilize art to help with your winter blues. Art therapy does not require you to be a trained artist, so there’s no pressure to create a masterpiece!

So What Are You Waiting for? Let’s Try Some Art Therapy!

I am an artist and I absolutely love working with art in my therapy. Let us help you combat these winter blues. If you are experiencing symptoms of SAD and would love to learn more about art therapy, please give us a call. I would love to help you and introduce art into your therapy.

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