Coloring Books and Mental Health
Well guys, I finally did it. I released my first book. I always told my wife I was going to have a book published, I just never thought it would be an adult coloring book. Creating a coloring book has been a passion project for me for over a year, but I’m just now making it a reality. You may be asking why a coloring book?
For many years I’ve suffered with horrible anxiety and panic attacks as many people do and creating art has been the only thing that has helped to keep it under control. Everyday I would sit down and create whimsical line drawings in my sketchbook and I was able to put my entire focus on the simple act of creating art.
One day while sketching in my sketchbook, I had the idea to create a coloring book using my sketches, with the hopes that they would help someone in the same way they helped me. You may be thinking to yourself that you’re too old for a coloring book or coloring books are for kids. For the record we’re never to old to color.
There’s actually some research behind coloring and mental health. I was recently reading an online article by the Cleveland Clinic about the benefits of coloring. According to clinical psychologist Scott M. Bea, PsyD, several positive things happen when you color.
First it helps to relax the brain. “You’re not disturbed by your own thoughts and appraisals,” Dr. Bea says. “The difficulties of life evaporate from your awareness, and both your body and your brain may find this rewarding.”
Coloring takes attention away from yourself “In this way, it is very much like a meditative exercise,” he says.
Coloring is a low stakes pursuit so it makes it pleasurable. “It is hard to screw up coloring, and, even if you do, there is no real consequence. Adult coloring can be a wonderful escape, rather than a demanding test of our capacities,” Dr. Bea adds.
I like to think of creating art, whether it’s working on an oil painting or coloring pages in a book, as art therapy. Art therapy has been around for quite a while and has been used to treat stress, depression, medical issues, and many more mental and physical conditions. This therapy is of course used in conjunction with other psychotherapy techniques.
I definitely agree with with Dr. Bea though. I do feel more relaxed while creating, and the attention is taken away from all my worries and troubles and directed on the art that I’m creating. This of course is not going to work for everyone, but if you enjoyed coloring as a child there’s a good chance you like it as an adult. So embrace that inner child. Pick up some pens, colored pencils, or heck even some crayons, crack open a coloring book and have fun. You might just like it.
“Adults typically choose forms of activities they loved as children for their adult recreations,he says.”
“Calming the Noise,” is now available on Amazon. It includes thirty intricate cubist style line drawings, plus one bonus drawing. It’s currently available in paperback. It’s also available in hardcover as a collectors edition. Happy coloring my friends.
Calming the Noise is an adult coloring book featuring 30 beautiful hand-drawn designs.
Unlock your creativity and inner artist as you color these intricate drawings inspired by cubism. Prepare to be transported to a world of peace, relaxation, and imagination using colored pencils, crayons, pens, or markers. These beautiful drawings are printed single-sided to avoid bleed through.
