By Holly Keich
Bringing Baby Earthside coloring book by The Art of Birth, illustrated by Trinity Natay, colored by thrivingwives
Holding a child in each hand, I entered the book store in the typical rush that has become my life. There to look at the toys, peruse the children’s books and play with the myriad of toys designed to entice you to make a purchase, I spied out of the corner of my eye a wall full of coloring books. But this wasn’t in the children’s section of the store. What could be the interest in adult coloring books, I wondered.
Much to my surprise there is A LOT of interest. So much so that there is such a thing as coloring parties where adults gather to sip wine and socialize. This burgeoning trend can be traced back to 2012 when Art-thérapie: 100 Coloriages anti-stress, by Hachette Pratique, was published in France.1 The craze continued for 3 years and now has begun to spread around the world. The first book to really hit the mainstream, however, was Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt & Coloring Book, a beautiful treasury of intricate garden themed drawings with hidden items that make it even more interesting to explore and make your own with a bit of color.2 Coloring books are so popular in fact that as of June 2015, five of the top 30 titles on Amazon’s best-seller list were adult coloring books and there are over 2000 titles out there and rising.3
In exploring the phenomenon a little deeper, the touted benefits of coloring range from stress reduction to preventing dementia. Well, we all have stress in our lives. And while some stress is good, in excess it is damaging to our mind and body (and it’s not so good for our relationships either). In our fast-paced society where things seem to be spinning out of control stress seeps in at every angle, school, work, illnesses, politics, world events, wars, hate crimes, deaths,.. We live in a stressful world and even if we don’t keep in touch with the daily news our brain still absorbs the information whenever we hear it or see even small bits and clips of it throughout the day. In the information age, it can seem as though we are bombarded with negativity at every turn. Who wouldn’t want to shut that off?
Which is exactly what coloring is said to do. Coloring allows the fear center of your brain to go offline and get some rest. And over time the amygdala is retrained to respond less harshly to stress. Joel Pearson, senior lecturer at UNSW in the school of psychology suggests that the books “would offer users a source of stress relief, in the same way the patients with anxiety or PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) use “Tetris” to distract the brain, and provide a sense of calm and clarity. He said during studies psychologists have found that when watching a scary or traumatic scene, if a person plays “Tetris” immediately after, the flashbacks of the event are fewer and less dramatic if they were to not do anything at all.
“The idea is that when you watch something traumatic the memory goes through a consolidation period (the process in which it becomes a permanent memory) and because your brain is focusing on the ‘Tetris’ shapes, instead of the event, you stop the consolidation process, and stop bad memories from turning into flashbacks,” he said. “Colouring-in books act in a similar way.””4
While the studies actually proving many of the benefits of coloring alone is nil to none, anecdotal evidence is strong. Pearson also claims that “there seems to be a greater drop in self reported anxiety for colouring-in mandalas and patterns compared to just drawing colour on a blank page.”5 So it sounds like the shapes and patterns in these adult coloring books may also play an important role. While coloring in the pictures you are focusing on the colors and spaces, occupying the part of your brain that would otherwise be engaged in anxiety-provoking thoughts. Therefore, even though there isn’t research that specifically supports coloring as a treatment, it is perceived to be beneficial as part of a larger plan for coping with uncomfortable feelings.
In fact, this has been know since the early 1900’s when Psychiatrist Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, prescribed coloring to his patients, more specifically the coloring of mandalas, to calm and center their minds.6
And therapists continue to use coloring as a method of calming anxiety in their clients to this day. Art therapists may use coloring as a beginning technique with their clients, but want to be clear that art therapy it is not. Art therapy, which involves the creative process, is more than just coloring in the lines. But other therapists have found coloring can be beneficial on a variety of levels, especially when working with children. New York-based clinical psychologist Dr. Ben Michaelis uses coloring with his own family. “We do it on Fridays as a way to kind of take the steam out of the week,” he said, “and also when my kids are kind of fighting or the temperature is starting to rise a bit in the house.”7
Coloring can be beneficial for women as they approach their birth. Not only can it reduce stress and promote calm thoughts towards labor and parenting, birth coloring books like “Bringing Baby Earthside” released locally by The Art of Birth and illustrated by Trinity Natay (pictured above) can help mamas-to-be focus on positive affirmations for birth. Who wouldn’t want to guide their focus with these inspirational and beautifully penned drawings of women in all their divine glory?
If you are ready to give it a try, you’ll want to head out and get some supplies. Of the 2,000 available books, I’m sure you’ll find one that you fancy, one that brings you peace just paging through the pictures. Some adult coloring books have fine detail (yet another benefit as it helps to preserve fine motor skills as you age), but this may make it a bit more tedious to color, so you may want to drop the kids crayons and buy your own coloring supplies. Get a nice sharp set of colored pencils or quality markers and you’re all set to go. Now, if I could only find the time…
1 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/experts-warn-adult-coloring-books-not-art-therapy-323506
2 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/experts-warn-adult-coloring-books-not-art-therapy-323506
Om Baby Pregnancy & Parenting Center 