Adult Colouring Books Offer Positive Release

Colouring books aren’t reserved for children anymore.

Professional Art Therapist Whitney Nichol says the adult colouring book trend is a great way to channel the stress of everyday life into something positive.

Nichol works with a wide variety of patients and introduces them to art as a way deal with often debilitating diseases and stress.

She has worked with young and elderly patients dealing with brain injuries, mental illness, and behavioural issues, as well as foster children.

Nichol says a lot of the issues that her patients don’t necessarily want to talk about will come up in the artwork and it offers a less threatening and intimidating way to talk about their issues.

Nichol is happy to see that adult colouring books have become more popular. Although she uses art to help her patients deal with serious illness and mental issues, she says there are a number of health benefits connected to colouring for the average person.

“It helps to relax the amygdala -- the fear centre of the brain. That’s why you get the more calming effect because when you’re able to focus directly on something that’s positive it can really help to calm you. It can also help to reduce your anxiety,” said Nichol.

Releasing tension through colouring can create a relaxed, uninhibited environment that is often sacrificed during adulthood.

“The best part of the colouring book is that you can colour it anyway you want. You don’t have anyone telling you ‘oh, the tree has to be green’ it can be purple if you want it to be. There’s no wrong way to colour,” said Nichol.

The idea of colouring to reduce stress is nothing new. Nichol cites Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung, who often coupled colouring with patient therapies in the early 1900s.

“He actually had introduced colouring with his psychiatric patients over one hundred years ago and got them to colour mandalas as a way to relax and channel their inner anxieties,” said Nichol. “It’s been around for a while, it just hasn’t been as popular.”

Nichol hopes the recent trend isn’t just a fad because she believes it’s a beautiful and easy way to release inner conflict and stress.