To Infinity and Beyond: : The Power of Animation and its Application to Mental Health & Well-being

Everyone loves animation. From Mickey Mouse to Snow White to Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Rick and Morty. Since childhood, animation has played a magical, wonderful part in all our lives. The seductive power of animation is similar to our dreams. It's ability to play with fantastic themes, to bend space and time, enable us to fly and objects to talk. It allows us to watch ourselves and others explore surreal situations and dilemmas. Animation is similar to the world of dream and fantasy both of which are common tools for psychotherapy. If dreams and fantasy are symbolic representations of our hidden desires, fears and dilemmas then animation is the perfect medium for both accessing and representing these. This short book draws on my commercial experience producing animation for some of the worlds largest brands. I illustrate how the falling cost of animation makes it an affordable resource in the treatment of several mental health issues such as anxiety, addiction and depression. And offers an approach which destigmatizes mental health issues and promotes wellness. It introduces ways in which animation can play an effective well-being resource within large organizations where many staff are working 'hybrid'. And within the under funded education and healthcare sectors both of which are struggling to cope with what the Royal College of Psychiatrists are calling the 'second pandemic'.