Art Isn't Therapy

One of the many myths of creativity is that ART IS THERAPY.

But the reality is so much much more nuanced.

 As The Mind of the Artist writer William Todd Shultz tells us in his recent interview, making art doesn’t solve problems, it ADDS them! It’s HARD to write a great song. It’s HARD to write a great paragraph. 

And writing great songs and paragraphs doesn’t tend to fix our relationship with our fathers! Certainly the process of taking experiences and turning them into art is satisfying. But it’s an AESTHETIC SATISFACTION.



Perhaps there are moments of your therapy session that feel like poetry. A great therapist will grant your gorgeous life all its poetry! And perhaps there are moments of the creative process that feel like emotional relief or psychological clarity. If you’re like me, you’ll take that wherever you can get it!

But in the end, our intentions with each are different. And if we allow them to be different, we get the most out of both of them.