Art therapy: expressing distressing emotions when words won't come

People pass by an artwork by street artist TvBoy created on a wall in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv in Ukraine. Photo: AP

Putting words on a trauma, terror or emptiness that you feel can be an impossible task. But expressing it in colours, lines, shapes can come surprisingly naturally. When we hit our verbal limits, art therapy can often offer a way forward.

People suffering from a traumatic event, fears, feelings of emptiness or other psychological issue are sometimes unable to express in words what's troubling them. But painting, drawing or sculpting under a therapist's supervision may help to get it out, enabling them to better understand the problem and to resolve it.