Effect of Therapeutic Art on Underprivileged Population during Post-Covid Recovery Phase

Art used is usually used as a great stress reliever. It is used by people largely in terms of communication and expressing their deepest feelings, people in the ancient times saw art as a way to vent and heal themselves with its regular use. Even the medical practitioners identify people suffering from mental health illnesses and stress benefitting from its use. (Farokhi ,2011). Therefore, art therapy in this paper was used as an effective activity based medium with the underprivileged sections. Covid-19 made people feel fragile and disoriented. The people from a satisfactory socioeconomic status still have resources to take help. The population selected for the conduction of artwork was the underprivileged population, who cannot afford mental healthcare suffer in silence and face detrimental impact on their emotional wellbeing. The consent and subjective recording were taken after which a series of activities were conducted with the subject selected from domestic help service. She was a 30-year-old female, residing in Delhi. The activities performed where as follows-Activity 01- Mandala coloring and covid-19 symbol making, Activity 02- Prayer Mandala, Activity 03- Collage Making and lastly, Activity 04- Creative Psychoeducation. During and after each activity the observations were recorded. All the activities were performed through their understanding of the Post covid-19 situation. The subject successfully explained and associated her experiences as well as emotions through the artworks. At the end she had a sense of happiness and peace to perform something she had never done and felt appreciated. The series of activities were also conducted on a Ngo population through an online modality and the effects seen were also helpful.