For people with schizophrenia, art can play a decisive role in their recovery, writes Claire O'Connell.
Creating a work of art can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. For people with schizophrenia, the creative process can also play a role in their recovery.
As well as providing an outlet for feelings, creativity can help boost self-esteem, problem-solving and even encourage social interactions.
Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that affects one in 100 people worldwide. Symptoms may include disturbances in thoughts and behaviour, experiencing delusions and hearing voices.
However, with the right conditions and support, you can make a recovery, says John Saunders, director of Schizophrenia Ireland. Recovery is not a cure, but rather a journey that involves the person coming to terms with the condition and managing their symptoms and lifestyle, he adds.
The main treatment for schizophrenia is medication. For some people, creative pursuits can also help, says Saunders.
"Recovery is not just about getting rid of the symptoms of the condition, it's about rebuilding your life," he says. "A part of that in severe illness is about redeveloping yourself and building your own self-worth, and art does that for certain people."
For Seán Hamill, artwork has been an integral part of his recovery from schizophrenia. He uses creativity as a way of relaxing and letting things out, but also as a means to problem-solve and provide affirmations.
"Imagine you are doing a drawing and you say to yourself this line means that I'm learning to relax around others," he explains.
"By the end of a drawing, which is thousands of lines, you have got a lot of ideas and goals. Although you don't consciously remember what you were thinking when you drew each of these lines, I believe you would remember them subconsciously. That's how it works."
Creative pursuits can also help a person deal with the intricacy of their mental illness, says Hamill.
"Mental illness is very complex and by doing artwork you can simplify it in your own mind and work with it," he says.
Hamill developed schizophrenia when he was a student of classical animation. He says artwork kept his "head above water" before he found medication that worked for him.
He then went on to do a fine arts degree and he continues to draw, paint, sculpt and practise photography. "It's very difficult to shut something like mental illness out. I tried doing that for years and I got nowhere," he says.
"But as soon as I started understanding what was going on, how it was working, I was able to apply what was going on within me to a more beneficial end."
Hamill notes that there are many elements to recovery from schizophrenia, including family, friends, medication, psychiatrists, psychologists and support centres like Dublin's Basin Club, where he is an active member.
Alongside these, he believes that the creative process is an essential tool, but that it doesn't have to be high art.
"It could be you doodling when you are on the phone, it could be you trying to write your name in an interesting way, anything," he says.
The process of art has a recognised therapeutic value, according to Bríd MacConville, an occupational therapist in mental health services with the Health Service Executive (HSE).
She is also a practising artist, and three years ago she set up an arts initiative within the mental health services in the northwest.
The programme invites professional artists to run workshops for people with mental health conditions in nine centres around counties Sligo and Leitrim.
The artists guide participants through activities such as drawing, painting, claywork, photography and sculpting.
"People choose to come and the focus is on the art, not on the condition," says MacConville, who has been developing the initiative in a "quiet and small-scale way".
Supported by the HSE, the programme has also linked in with community-based groups and with Sligo County Council Arts Office for individual projects.
"It's not a quick fix or a cure-all. It's about creating an atmosphere and an environment where people could be respected for who they are," she says.
The approach can also help to combat social isolation. One of the most rewarding outcomes for MacConville involved a woman with schizophrenia who had been institutionalised for much of her life.
She took part in a photography workshop, and then her occupational therapists brought her into town so she could choose an outfit to wear for the exhibition at which her photos were to be shown.
"To see her at the opening of the exhibition in clothes she had chosen, smiling and talking as an artist - such moments are examples of the initiative's success," says MacConville.
u Today is World Mental Health Day, which aims to promote public awareness and advocacy of mental health issues. This year's theme centres on building awareness and reducing risks of suicide and mental illness. For more details about local activities and events see www.mentalhealthireland.ie
For information about schizophrenia and recovery, see www.recover.ie