10+ Anxiety Art Therapy Worksheets

If you struggle with anxiety, you know how difficult it can be to go through the day as normal when your anxiety is flaring up. It’s in these times where coping skills, and sometimes even methods of distraction can help.

Art therapy can play a big role in managing your anxiety. 

In today’s post I’m sharing over 10 art therapy worksheets that can help ease anxiety. Before we get to those, you may be wondering what exactly art therapy is and how it helps.

We’ll do a quick dive into those questions before introducing you to the art therapy exercises.

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What Is Art Therapy?

According to the American Psychological Association (APA) art therapy is defined as, “ the use of artistic activities, such as painting and clay modeling, in psychotherapy and rehabilitation.”

This form of therapy can help an individual express themselves and their thoughts and feelings in ways that they haven’t been able to with words. While these may seem like simple art projects to an outsider, they convey much more than that for the person that created it. 

You can use different tools like colored pencils, paint or crayons to support your creative process.

How Is Art Therapy Helpful For Anxiety?

Art therapy has many benefits for those with anxiety disorders, as well as other mental health issues. It can help foster self-esteem and self-awareness, cultivate emotional resilience, promote insight, enhance social skills, and even more, according to the American Art Therapy Association. 

My favorite benefits of art therapy are how it can ease the mind, it interrupts The Cycle Of Rumination – basically this means that you are using your senses to distract your mind and break away from the thoughts you are focusing on, and it can help bring those inner thoughts to the surface so that you can begin to heal from them.

The most effective way to go about art therapy is to do it with a professional art therapist during a therapy session. If you don’t have access to that, the next best thing is to download some of these anxiety art therapy worksheets. 

Sometimes your head doesn’t feel like a safe place. And in this case, please seek professional help when needed. Art therapy is not a replacement for mental health professionals.

10+ Anxiety Art Therapy Worksheets

These worksheets are a mix of art therapy ideas that range from coloring to creative activities using cognitive behavior therapy, and everything in between. 

It taps into the human experience, drawing on the physical sensations of creating art and the spiritual experience to offer a creative outlet.

Workbooks

Art Therapy Journal:

The first anxiety art therapy worksheet on the list is actually a group of worksheets.

This art therapy journal is 90 pages. It includes everything from guided art prompts to blank art journaling pages that you can use for free expression.

Use different color to express yourself. Even simple art therapy activities can have huge benefits.

Window of Tolerance Guide:

Another side of art therapy is when it can teach you coping skills and overcome low self-esteem.

That is what these information sheets do. It also includes a coloring sheet so that you can spend time focusing on this concept.

Gratitude Workbook:

This is the last of our workbooks. While it doesn’t focus specifically on anxiety, gratitude is great for reducing feelings of anxiety.

This workbook contains 14 worksheets. It provides a great visual representation of all the good things you have to be grateful for in life.

Single Page Activities

What’s On My Mind?:

This worksheet is a creative way to express what is going on in your mind.

You can put anything you want in the clouds to describe what you are feeling, a world, a drawing, even scribbles if that’s how you are feeling.

Letting Go:

This worksheet is one of the many cbt worksheets that art therapists can use to help their patients get through what is troubling them in therapy sessions.

You can also use this whenever you have a lot on your mind that is stressing you out and even causing anxiety.

The balloon symbolizes the act of letting go of what is weighing you down. To take this art therapy activity a step further, you can write these negative feelings on physical balloons and let them go.

Watch them continue to get smaller and feel your mind ease up.

Worry Jar:

Another symbolic way to get rid of what is worrying you is to print out this anxiety art therapy worksheet and write it down in this jar.

Again, you can take this exercise a step further by getting an actual jar, some pens, and a piece of paper cut into small strips.

This type of exercise can be a very therapeutic process as you are doing it. It can also serve as a great reminder as it catches your eye later on.

Calm Place Coping Strategy:

This art therapy activity was created and tested by a licensed therapist for both individual and therapy groups.

You’ll receive information sheets that explain what the activity is, what is needed for it, and more.

Coloring Pages

Peace of Mind Coloring Book:

The next three anxiety art therapy worksheets are different versions of coloring sheets.

Starting off with this coloring book. Coloring is a creative way to find some calm in your day, so it’s especially great for people that struggle with feelings of anxiety.

Coloring-In Mindfulness Flashcard Deck:

These flashcards double as a coloring activity and learning about therapy skills, specifically Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

The four DBT modules that are present in these flashcards are distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and core mindfulness. 

Coping and Feelings Therapy Coloring Mandala:

This coloring activity is great for both young people and adults. These art therapy worksheets are a great way to check-in on your feelings, while also learning about coping skills.

Bonus FREE Art Therapy Worksheets & Activities For Anxiety

I wanted to include a few free anxiety art therapy worksheets in this post.

I know what it’s like to be in a bad place financially and mentally. If you are unable to purchase any of the Etsy worksheets at this time, here are a few you can start with. There is also a therapeutic project as well. 

My Emotions Wheel: This worksheet is a great way to express how you are feeling without having to describe it with words. Sometimes feelings can be complicated and confusing, this is a way to clear some of that up.

Coloring Pages: Print some of these various designs, grab some color pencils, and spend some time coloring. You may notice that your stress and anxiety levels start to decrease. 

Mask Art Therapy Activity: How often do our anxious thoughts revolve around what other people think about us? This is especially taxing for people that struggle with social anxiety. In this creative project you make a mask with two sides. One reflecting how you think others see you and one resembling how you see yourself. 

You can also always pick a large piece of paper and do some meditative painting to create piece of art. Heck, just make it easy on yourself and go for finger painting! Active art-making can help ease the physical symptoms of anxiety as well.

In Summary: Anxiety Art Therapy Worksheet

Now that you’ve been introduced to art therapy and how it can be beneficial for anxiety, you’re ready to download some of these worksheets.

Use them next time you start feeling a little anxious. You’ll see how these therapeutic activities can bring out your creative side.

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