Collage shortcuts

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I have been in education for many years, mainly teaching art in its various forms. My last experience, which is not yet finished, is work together with people having psychiatric difficulties. I initiated collage on works that were already done by pastel. We worked in tandem and I suggested some adjunctions from magazines. It worked really well and everybody was happy.
This startled me because psychologists used to tell me in the past that collage was a risky tool: it might disturb and frighten fragile minds, it would be better to paint or draw.
This is a very common prejudice. Painting and drawing, or clay modelling etc. are seen as reflecting reality, as a constructive means. Collage, on the other hand, is seen as destructive because of its use of fragments.
This idea doesn't withstand logic. Painting does exactly the same - brushstrokes, dots, different elements assemble in a way collage does. As for the originality of painting/drawing vs. collage, just look at real works and you'll see how many element are "loans" from other paintings, photographs etc.
The only difference ist the facility of making a collage without any artistic "gift",freed from school memories and the repeated experience of failure when drawing or painting. Aren't adult people often drawing like 5 years old children and ashamed of that?
The pleasure you can have with collage and seeing the result, is the discovery of the own creativity. It is the experience of creative power which made my people so happy, the experience of total freedom, of daring associations they would never make consciously. Who can be afraid of that?