Art therapy for vitiligo

Last Updated on 13th April 2024 by Caroline Haye

5 reasons to nurture your creativity

Do you have vitiligo or perhaps another long-term condition? Maybe you have different sorts of concerns or difficulties that tend to dominate your thoughts or cause you to struggle with aspects of your life. If so, I would love to know whether or not you have ever tried your hand at an artistic activity of any sort. If you have, did you share your art with others or simply treat it as a form of personal creative therapy? Either way, art therapy for vitiligo can be immensely positive.

I can think of many occasions over the years when my white spots occupied my mind to the point where I felt my head would explode. And I can also remember times when aspects of my life that were quite unconnected to vitiligo produced a similar sensation. Not wanting to risk an actual exploding-head scenario, my reaction to these feelings was usually to find some emotional outlet, sometimes by escaping to a favourite place of beauty (a country walk or a soothing book) and other times into some private form of self-expression.

My chosen form was usually writing poems. (See My Vitiligo Poetry page and my All Poetry page) I found that this activity provided me with a way of channelling my feelings out of myself and into something that had a completely new identity: a creation, something that had not existed before and could never have existed without me.

We all possess creative talents

I believe that all human beings possess creative talents. It’s part of how we are made. Perceiving the world around us, and the world inside us, purely literally and logically is not enough. We have an inbuilt need to interpret it, filter it and re-create it into different versions of itself. This is the process that we call creativity and it is in each one of us.

Some people are content to process the information that their senses provide them inside their head instead of through external expression. But this does not mean that their thoughts are not also creative. Others externalise their perceptions into art, either for their own satisfaction or for the enjoyment of others – often for both.

Nurturing creativity

Although we all have a creative side not everyone actively nurtures theirs. I suspect that many people pass up the chance to explore their artistic talents due to lack of time, which is a pity. Modern life has a way of distracting us from the quiet contemplation that is typically required if we are going to tap into those talents and from the peace and space needed to cultivate them. So you may find it takes quite an effort to get started. On the other hand, you may be one of those people (as I was) for whom keeping the creative urge locked inside would have been a far greater effort. Whenever I felt the need to write some poetry it was exactly that – a need. And I could not rest until I had spilled my thoughts and feeling onto paper.

But is it art? And does that matter?

In the past I never really considered whether or not this compulsion had anything to do with my vitiligo or with any other aspect of my life that troubled me. But I do wonder now if this may have been the case. The idea that art is inevitably born out of some kind of suffering is a cliché, but only because it is so often true. And the fact that I have written a lot less poetry since recovering my normal skin colour is probably significant. If nothing else, I think it proves that, for me at least, writing poems was more a therapeutic exercise than it was the work of a creative genius!

But that’s okay. The whole concept of art, as far as I understand it (which, to be fair, isn’t very far) is that its beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. And, in my view, works of art that stem from someone’s need for self-expression or catharsis are every bit as valid as the contents of our most hallowed galleries, libraries and concert halls. In fact, they are just as valid, even if they never see the light of day and their creator is the only person ever to enjoy them.

Exploring your artistic side could improve your vitiligo and every aspect of your health and wellbeing

If you are still wondering if you might have some poetry, prose, paintings, drawings, sculptures, symphonies or pop songs inside you, waiting to burst into life, my message to you is why not find out? What do you have to lose? Here are just five reasons to indulge in some creative art therapy of your own.

Expressing yourself through being creative is all of these things:

1. Cathartic: it unburdens the mind and soul.
2. Diverting: it is so absorbing that it takes your mind off your own worries.
3. Liberating: it allows you to invent your own version of freedom and perfection if you wish to escape the imperfection of your own existence.
4. Soothing: it reduces stress (a known trigger of chronic poor health, including vitiligo and most other skin diseases).
5. Satisfying: creating something no one else has done brings a sense of achievement, validation and empowerment.

In short, when you get in touch with your artistic self, either as a means of creative art therapy or just for fun, it benefits you mentally, spiritually and physically. It could even help heal your skin. So why wouldn’t you want to give it a go? And if you do, and you are happy to share your creations (not that you have to), they are certain to touch others in positive ways that you may never even know.