UNAIR NEWS – In everyday life, people may get stressed due to difficult situations. During these conditions, appropriate coping strategies are needed in order to overcome the stress.
One of the coping strategies to deal with stress is to do creative expression. That is what Galuh Kikiany S., M.Psi., Psychologist, presented at the webinar entitled Creative Expression as a Great Coping Tool: Bye-bye Stress! on Saturday, June 12, 2021.
In the webinar held by Airlangga Safe Space (ASAP), an online mental health platform under the Branding Department of Student Executive Board (BEM KM) Faculty of Psychology Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), Kiki explained a lot about creative expression as a means of coping with stress.
“Creative expression is stress coping that expresses emotions through media that create or generate positive energy. This activity can be done with any media and ways,” said Kiki.
“If we talk about creative expression, it is more about how we express emotions with the media we have even though they are just paper, colored pencils, crayons, or watercolors,” said the clinical psychologist of iBunda.id.
These media, she explained, are enough to help someone express the emotions they felt. “By expressing emotions, we can reduce negative emotions and bring out positive emotions,” she continued.
Kiki explained many activities included as creative expressions such as dancing, listening to music, storytelling, painting, coloring, journaling, staycation, and various other fun activities.
“Staycation can be said as a creative expression because we try to explore a city or place that finally makes us express our negative emotions. We no longer hold back the negative emotions that we feel. Therefore, when we go on a staycation, we tend to feel happy,” added Kiki.
Kiki explained that there is a study showing that creative expression can improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being so people can feel more relaxed. “When we feel tense due to stress, we tend to feel negative emotions again,” she said.
“When we do fun activities, our brains release the dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin hormones. These three hormones are the ones that trigger our positive emotions,” concluded Kiki. (*)
Author: Agnes Ikandani
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh (YA/AP)
