Draw Your Anxiety

This article was edited and approved for accuracy By Adam Szmerling on August 15, 2014

The value of art and art therapy should not be underestimated (although, these are never substitutes for speaking therapies) and the arts of all kinds can be very therapeutic when dealing with anxiety. From identifying with a character in a book or writing a journal, through to painting and photography, there are many ways to communicate your thoughts. You do not need to be a talented artist to benefit from art therapy and everyone can create their individual inner world using art.

With this in mind the project Draw Your Anxiety was born with the idea that you can show how your anxiety affects you and how it can affect anyone from any walk of life. With lots of people taking part this is a community where you can feel solidarity in knowing that we are not alone in these feelings, and the artworks will form a picture for the outside world to see how anxiety can impact each person differently. So we are calling for you to take part. We want to help you share your art. This is your space. Draw, paint, take photos, any artworks will be accepted. We want to see your interpretation of your anxiety and how your anxiety affects you. Please send your submissions to drawyouranxiety@gmail.com and we will upload anonymously to our dedicated Pinterest board, or if you don’t mind being connected to your anxiety drawing and have your own Pinterest account, simply publish your drawing to your Pinterest account, then use the hashtag #drawyouranxiety in the description. Please consider that if you publish the image yourself then we can’t guarantee anonymity.

We want to give a voice to anxiety and raise awareness of this silent condition, and hope you will take part.

The Draw your Anxiety feature is part of our Anxiety Awareness Campaign at Bayside Psychotherapy; we want to help spread an understanding of anxiety and those who experience it in their everyday lives. Whilst each case of anxiety is unique, through sharing knowledge sharing and talking about it the issue we hope to develop a community of people who can help each other.

Bayside Psychotherapy was founded by Adam Szmerling in Melbourne, offering counselling and psychotherapy for individuals and couples. Adam's experience with psychotherapy inspired him to help others improve their self-understanding, mental health and wellbeing.

Authors

Adam Szmerling

Born and bred in Melbourne, I’m an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AASW) and clinical psychotherapist (PACFA). I work with individuals and couples, adult clients who want to speak and engage in psychotherapy.
Natalie Szmerling

Natalie is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience in the health sector. She completed her Masters (Clinical Psychology) training at Swinburne University and wrote her masters thesis on multidimensional self-esteem in different problematic eating patterns.