Jackie is an autistic and ADHD writer, artist, and therapist. Her upcoming book, "Life as a Late-identified Autistic" will be published in January 2024. She runs an art therapy private practice that specializes in late-identified autism and ADHD. You can learn more about her work at https://www.jackieschuld.com
I am thankful to present her expertise and insights on how art therapy can be helpful for autistic adults in particular. Please read on...
We autistics have incredibly complex minds.
We can have a hundred thoughts at once.
We can have a conversation with someone, and have a background program running that is assessing the conversation at the same time.
We can think deeply on a subject, connecting dozens of tangential thoughts. It’s a beautiful web of thoughts that can lead to creativity, innovation, passions, and joy.
But our complex minds can also leave us exhausted. Sometimes our minds go into overdrive as we try to process all that we took in from the day and the millions of connecting thoughts. Our emotions can also get easily sucked into the matter, leading to emotional lows.
Before I knew I was autistic, I described myself as having overwhelming emotions and thoughts.
I thought therapy would help me reduce my emotions and thoughts.
It didn’t.
I thought that meant I failed at therapy.
In reality, the therapy I received wasn’t tailored to my neurodivergent mind.
My therapists didn’t know I was autistic, and neither did I.
But now I know, and I’m doing things differently.
Instead of trying to “change” my mind, I’m learning how to work with it.
I accept that my mind will always produce a lot of emotions and thoughts. I now provide more space and mediums for my mind to process all of that at a pace that doesn’t feel overwhelming for me. I also do it in ways that feel good.
That’s what I love about art therapy. It provides me with the space to do just that.
For example, if I’m feeling frustrated about a topic, I don’t try to “talk” my way through it. That often makes it worse. Instead, I make art about it.
Art helps us to see things from different perspectives. It also lets us express our emotions fully.
Many times, our emotions need more attention before they can extinguish.
I’m now an art therapist who specializes in late-identified autism. I work with neurodivergent folx who are new to their autistic/ADHD identities.
Learning you’re autistic is freeing, but it’s also a lot to process. Art therapy can help us to do that.
Sometimes I invite clients to make collages about their autistic identities. It brings many subconscious feelings and thoughts to the surface.
Other times I invite clients to create bubble maps about their autistic characteristics. It provides the clarity and organization that our minds crave. We can also then review their maps together to identify characteristics they may not have considered.
Sometimes I invite clients to make abstract paintings of how they currently feel. I call them emotional portraits. Learning you’re autistic is a weird mix of relief, grief, anger, joy, and more. It can be a lot for us to describe. Art can help us to get all of that out.
There’s an endless amount of ways that art therapy can help autistics to feel better. There’s no “list of art therapy activities to go through,” at least not in my practice. Instead, everything is tailored to where the person is at in their journey, their interests, who they are, their comfort with different art materials, and more.
That’s the beauty of working with an art therapist, versus just doing art on one’s own. An art therapist can guide you at a pace and in a way that is suited to who you are and what you’re needing.
It won’t change who you are, but it will certainly make you feel far better about who you are.
