Who is crazy and who is not? Will this discussion ever end? Is it a fine line or a thin filter between who is balanced and who is off kilter? It has been said that mental health is a “non-sexy”—topic. Not true, it just may be the “sexiest of all!” The use of color as non-invasive, holistic therapy dates back thousands of years to the ancient texts from India, China and Egypt.
In nature, in animals and in plants, color is everywhere is used for camouflage, for self-expression and to facilitate mating. Without a doubt color preference and selection has a deep psychological effect on our mood and mental health at both the conscious and subconscious levels.
Colorology or chemotherapy is an alternative medicine using both color and light to balance mental, emotional, physical and spiritual energy. According to the psychologist Carl Jung, the very “act of coloring” helped his patients access those deeper regions of the subconscious mind and could lead to a new awareness of added self-knowledge.
More contemporary psychologists have shown that his coloring activity has helped individuals with PTSD, anxiety and other stress related issues by calming the amygdala, that part of the brain that controls the “fight or flight” response. When the amygdala becomes overactive, individuals stay in a heightened state of worry, panic and hyper-vigilance. Coloring refocuses and brings more tranquility to the amygdala, allowing the brain to rest and relax.
Coloring images and designs utilize the brain’s frontal lobes, which are responsible for the higher-level activities of problem solving and organizational skills. Coloring brings into play both hemispheres of the brain, right and left. Uniting each frontal lobe rounds out our own “intuitive globe.”
“Color, Mood and Mental health”