When art therapy, which uses mental symbols and intuition, is applied to mental illness, sexual abuse, child abuse cases, or to children whose verbal understanding is limited, it is able to gradually lower the patient's defense mechanisms, build a better relationship between patient and therapist and unearth the old stories that lie buried in the deepest recesses of the subconscious.
因此，針對精神病、性侵害、受虐兒，或是語言表達能力有限的小孩，運用心象、直覺思考的藝術治療，往往能降低當事人的防衛機制，建立治療師與當事人良好的關係，進而透露內心底層的故事，甚或潛意識。