Art Therapy

[poeticprincess88]

I was wondering who has used art therapy for PTSD. Many of the outpatient and inpatient programs have used art therapy as a means of exploring trauma and working through it. Sometimes they would use mandala's or have us write poetry. They even had us make collages.

I use it on my own. I make a lot of collages they help me. I also color mandala's. It makes me feel relaxed and it releases stress. It is also very healing. It helps me put words or pictures on paper to be able to communicate some of the stuff going on in my head that I feel like I don't have the voice yet to speak out loud.

 

[Hashi]

I use art a lot, especially collage. It lets me express things I couldn't otherwise.

It also helps me understand things and express them to myself in the first place. The process of making an image, what resonates, what I choose to put in, and how I want to arrange them - these all clarify for me how I feel.

My current T is integrative (uses a variety of approaches) and one is art therapy. Talking with her is very helpful. But sometimes I feel like I can communicate much better through a picture, especially with the things that are hardest to say. I make some very grim collages. Finding the images can be easier than finding the words. Creating them is validating and cathartic.

 

[Elizabeth-Ann]

I was wondering how you do collages, with newspapers or magazenes? With photos or colors? I would like to discover a bit more than just painting and I heard multiple times of collages, not really knowing what this is about for PTSD.

Tanks for your answers!

 

[nimkekaa]

I have done a little art therapy but I have supported a few children going to art therapy. It is a great tool to use. It is recommended very frequently for children with trauma where I live.

Elizabeth-Ann, colleges can be made from anything. Magazines, newpapers, photos, colour, black and white and even drawings. In my opinion they are just a way to express what you are feeling. So if your having some bad feelings but don't really understand them then go through magazines etc and see what catches your eye. Then cut and paste. The end results can sometimes show you things or just be a release of emotions but valadating them. Does that make sense?

I would love to work with an art therapist but funds are very tight right now.

 

[Philippa]

You can do your own art therapy if you are low on cash. An art therapist can guide you to paint or collage when you bring up a subject, but honestly, just doing some art when you are having feelings coming up is just as valid and can be just as healing.

I made a lot of healing progress just off my own batt when I started painting years ago. The more you do it, the better you get at painting as well, which is a bonus.

 

[Hashi]

I was wondering how you do collages..

I like what nimkekaa said, it's about what catches your eye.

The way I started was to get 10 magazines, flick through the pages and cut out anything that resonated with the way I was feeling. Then to try arranging them on a piece of paper, moving them around before deciding how I wanted them and then gluing them down like that. The first one I made had only two pictures, but when I put those two pictures together it made me cry and cry (in that case, one represented innocence and vulnerability, the other represented protection - it made me cry because I hadn't been protected when I was vulnerable, and it released a lot of feelings).

I find the best magazines are the ones that you get with the weekend newspapers, anything focused on art/culture/what's on in your city or area, holiday brochures and some trade [business] magazines if you have access to these (because the subject matter can be hard to make interesting, eg banking or parking regulation enforcement, they often try to be very creative with the illustrations). I pick up free magazines and advertising brochures everywhere, including the magazines people leave on trains. I like using pictures of birds and animals to represent aspects of myself - like a fighting tiger or an injured bird - so nature magazines and safari holiday brochures are good.

Other people do different types of collages, using newspapers and words for example, or googled images with Photoshop. It just depends what suits you.

 

[Chosen]

Other people do different types of collages, using newspapers and words for example, or googled images with Photoshop. It just depends what suits you.

Thanks for saying that. I've just been googling images and making collages on Paint...it's been really helpful so far. Thanks!

 

[Elizabeth-Ann]

But I still wonder If you just "feel" like drawing or making collages, or if you do it because you want to do it. I was once a very creative person, expressing myself a lot in sculpting or painting, but there is no more of this desire left.

I can do practical things and I love handycraft, but "art"? I would not know "what" to express in art. Sometimes I ask myself: Am I not ready to letting go? "Producing" things without expressing my feelings is much easier?

Should I push myself to express myself and just sit down and try, or go with my mood? I feel kind of sad writing that and even don't know why. :cry:

 

[WesternSky]

Art therapy interests me, mainly because it is less frightening to contemplate than traditional therapy. I used to be much more creative, but a lot of that was lost and I am still struggling to bring it back. When I was first diagnosed I did some very dark stuff that I still have, but I'm not sure if it helped or not. I'd like to hear more about what an art therapy program is actually like/what they ask you to do. There isn't one around here as far as I know.

 

[kers]

I have found that art helps me manage and express some emotions that I can't yet communicate in words--especially anger. I don't worry about making a work of art, just using artistic materials to express the feelings. I'm sure that I've painted dozens of virtually identical pages of black smears. But the process helps me avoid less healthy ways to cope with the emotion, and the product is a concrete way to prove that I'm here, my feelings are here. That is very valuable.

 

[Hashi]

But I still wonder If you just "feel" like drawing or making collages, or if you do it because you want to do it. I was once a very creative person, expressing myself a lot in sculpting or painting, but there is no more of this desire left....

Should I push myself to express myself and just sit down and try, or go with my mood? I feel kind of sad writing that and even don't know why. :cry:

It's a struggle for me to do any art at all now, even though I know how much it helps me when I do it - trauma/healing art or just decorative art. I find craft easier too, because it's more structured - I don't need to conjure creativity out of nowhere and there's less risk of being disappointed at what I produce. For that reason, I now try to do more structured or defined art. I'll do an exercise from a book, or something based on an image I like. Collage is much easier for me because I'm using existing images.

How would you feel about trying it? Pushing yourself for one hour, say, and stopping after that time if you want to?

I'm nearly always pushing myself. A good way is to decide to work on something to take to my next T appointment, so I have a deadline and also a motivation, because it's something I want to talk about during that session. If I just went with my mood, I'd rarely do anything.

 

[Elizabeth-Ann]

I love your answer, Hashi! This is so similar what I am about at the moment.

Big hug!