Psychologist adds colours to therapy

Couch counselling is passe. Psychology has a whole new philosophy and it is called the Red Door. All it needs is plenty of fresh air, a paint brush and some paper.  

City-based therapist, Reshma Valliappan, explains that Red is the second level of art-based therapy (ABT). Sitting cross-legged in jeans and T-shirt on the University of Pune campus on Sunday, Reshma told DNA, “Instead of the controlled atmosphere of a therapist’s room and a directed audience for therapy, I am taking ABT to random people and helping them get in touch with the therapeutic effects of art.”

As a therapist’s tool, ABT has been used around the world with targeted groups. However, this is the first time ABT is being used among random groups and in an uncontrolled environment.
Red Door is the brainchild of documentary film maker Aparna Sanyal. In Pune, Sanyal’s  theory has seen propagated by Reshma, who has conducted a series of events, the latest being the one conducted on the campus of the university on Sunday.
Reshma typically approaches  families, couples, children, students, senior citizens and simply  asks them to paint. “I carry with me the various paint materials and paper and allow people to just paint,” Reshma  said.

Reshma claims the results  are very interesting. “To begin with all my participants have felt relaxed after putting paint on paper. It was instant therapy for them,” she said.

Narrating an incident, where a mother of two, approached her hesitatingly and asked her if painting would reveal her state of mind. “To me as a therapist, it was a cry for help. The concept of the Red Door is to let loose. Hence I asked her to just paint,” Reshma said.

According to Reshma, in conventional ABT, there is a targeted audience of people who have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness. “However, there still exists a large section of the population who are silent suffers of different mental illnesses, but do not know where to turn for help. ABT allows them to realise their state and encourages them to seek help if needed,” she said.
 

Reshma intends to take Red Door to schools, colleges and offices. City-based NGO Bapu Trust has promised to assist her.

She can be  contacted at sat.yugasandhi@gmail.com.