Art Therapy within Traditional Arab Culture

Art therapy has gained recognition and popularity in the Arab world and the Middle East in recent years, with an increasing number of professionals acknowledging its potential for healing and self-expression. This chapter explores ways that art therapy can interact and engage with traditional Arab culture, as a rational and potential model for using arts therapy within Arab cultures. In Saudi Arabia, art therapy was used to prevent recidivism in those in the correctional systems and counterterrorism. To delve deeper into using art therapy within Arab culture, the chapter provides two specific situations where art and craft making was found to be beneficial: one working with Arab women and one with at risk Arab youth in home detention. Cultural hybridity and diversity are also addressed through art as a western form of self-expression on one hand, and combined with traditional crafts and forms of expression, on the other.