ART Therapy with Trauma Survivors
www.MickMaurer.com
| Trauma and Art Therapy Research There is little qualitative/quantitative research on "art therapy and trauma" per se. In addition, there are only a few art therapy books published on clinical art therapy that are grounded in research. Most research has been conducted by other professions that specialize in psychological trauma. Articles Chapman, L., Morabito, D., Ladakakos, C., Schreler, H., & Knudson, M. (2001). The effectiveness of art therapy interventions in reducing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in pediatric trauma patients. Art Therapy Journal, 18, 2, 100-108. Good, D. (1996). Secondary traumatic stress in art therapists and related mental health professions. (Doctoral Dissertation, University of New Mexico, Dissertation Abstracts International. Pifalo, T. (2002). Pulling out the thorns: Art therapy with sexually abused children and adolescents. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 19(1), 12-22. Sidun, N. and Rosenthal, R. (1987). Graphic indicators of sexual abuse in draw-a-person tests of psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 14, 25-33. Sidun, N. and Chase, A. A. (1987, November). The use of drawings in determining sexual abuse. Paper presented at the Conference of the American Art Therapy Association, Miami. Spring, D. (1988). Sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress reflected in artistic symbolic language (Doctoral dissertation, The Fielding Institute). University Microfilms International, 4405, 9002893. Books Brooke, S. (1997). Art therapy with sexual abuse survivors. Springfield, IL: C C Thomas. Cohen, B. M., & Cox, C. T. (1990). Telling without talking: Art as a window into the world of multiple personality. NY: W. W. Norton. Gerity, L. (1999). Creativity and the dissociative patient. Puppets, narrative and art in the treatment of survivors of childhood trauma. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Hagood, M. (2000). The use of art in counselling child and adult survivors of sexual abuse. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Spring, D. (1993). Shattered images: Phenomenological language of sexual trauma. Chicago: Magnolia Street Publishers. Spring, D. (2001). Image and mirage, art therapy with dissociative clients. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas. Books and Research Important To Art Therapists' Knowledge Of Psychological Trauma Brown, D., Scheflin, A., & Hammond, DC. (1998). Memory, trauma treatment, and the law. NY: W. W. Norton. Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and recovery. NY: Basic Books. Marsella, A., Friedman, M., Gerrity, E., & Scurfield, R. (1996). Ethnocultural aspects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Rothschild, B. (2000). The body remembers, psychophysiology of trauma and trauma treatment. NY: W. W. Norton. Waites, E. (1997). Memory quest. NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Williams, M. B. & Sommer, J. (Eds.). (1994). Handbook of post-traumatic therapy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. [Note: this book has one chapter on art therapy and trauma.] van der Kolk, B. (1987). Psychological trauma. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. [Note: this book has one chapter on art and trauma.] © American Art Therapy Association, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
Four above by Afghani children
Three above by Iraqi children
Three above by Darfur children
Boat child headed for Australia
Five by children who survived 2005 Indian Ocean Tsunami
Three by Child Soldiers
| 9-11 Heroes Fear of war and terrorism is real - drawing can help Drawing helps children to cope with feelings evoked by war and terrorism ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Children and young people can many times convey their feelings about traumatic events through drawing and painting even if they can't or don't want to talk about them. If you find your child has difficulties in expressing feelings about a bad event, try encourage him/her to draw. Drawing along can be a means to cope, but you can also ask questions about the artwork, and that might help you two to discuss these complex emotions. You don't need any special training or equipment to use this idea with your own children - or with you yourself. Just whatever means you have at your home to create pictures is enough. "Children tend to draw the part of the trauma they don't understandthe part they're 'stuck' on. Like adults, sometimes what they're saying is not what they're feeling. When they draw, they put it all out on paper," says Suzanne Silverstein, president and co-founder of the Psychological Trauma Center at Cedars- Sinai. Children and 9/11: Art Helping Kids Heal See also a children's art photo gallery on that page. In the days and months immediately following September 11, 2001, New York area children created compelling works of art expressing their feelings about the terrorist attacks. The artworks not only reflect the emotions that the events of 9/11 brought forth in children, they are also significant historic documents, presenting and preserving the testimony of our nation's youngest witnesses to this cataclysmic moment in the history of New York City. You can see hundreds of these art works at The day our world changed - Children's art of 9/11. Another page with a sampling of children's creative responses to the events of September 11, 2001 is PapaInk Curation Team's Gallery. |
Two pictures by children after 9/11
| Source: Mercy Corps Date: 08 Sep 2005 Helping children heal For Oregon-bound families displaced from their homes by Hurricane Katrina, Mercy Corps is helping ease the transition by creating "Comfort Kits" that contain games, stuffed animals, fleece throws and stamped Oregon postcards that people can use to send notes to family and friends. To address the daunting long-term recovery process for hurricane-affected people, Mercy Corps created a program called Comfort for Kids this week that will provide psycho-social support for the huge number displaced children that may be experiencing trauma - including 500 kids in families temporarily relocated to Portland, home to Mercy Corps' U.S. headquarters. Comfort for Kids materials include a book entitled What Happened to My World and a coloring book designed around the hurricane and employs art therapy techniques. Mercy Corps and partner organizations will also provide trauma training for professionals that work with youth. The program is modeled after a similar one Mercy Corps developed after 9/11 to help ease the trauma experienced by New York youth. The program will be implemented with the support of Bright Horizons Family Solutions and JPMorgan Chase in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, where large numbers of evacuees have relocated. Mercy Corps has a long history of supporting children and helping them heal after natural disasters and other crises, both domestically and internationally. Here are some examples of our commitment: Indian Ocean Tsunami In the aftermath of December 2004's devastating tsunami, millions of children were displaced, having lost family members, friends and homes in an instant. From the beginning of its response in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Mercy Corps focused on helping these children discuss this loss, recover from the trauma and restore both routine and normalcy to their lives. In coastal Sri Lanka, we provided moral support and counseling to hundreds of children, as well as their teachers and parents. Creative activities and playgroups brought children together and allowed them to explore their grief and feelings with their peers. Mercy Corps also set up temporary schools for local children, and even built new playgrounds near camps where displaced families were sheltered. Across Indonesia's devastated Aceh region, we fulfilled a promise to return children back to school within a month of the tsunami. On January 26, 2005, thousands of Indonesian children returned to classrooms that had been rebuilt and cleaned by community members. Overall, more than 30,000 children received school supplies, uniforms and tuition - as well as a quick return to the classroom. Darfur, Sudan Mercy Corps is providing innovative psychosocial support for over 10,000 children in the Hessa-Hissa and Hamidiya refugee camps of Sudan's troubled Darfur region. The program includes one-on-one mentoring where adults share their skills and crafts with children. Mercy Corps also recently launched a program to provide education supplies and services to 14,000 children in all three camps where Mercy Corps operates, including rehabilitating three schools and constructing 180 temporary classrooms. September 11 Mercy Corps mounted a rapid response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, which left an indelible mark on children across the United States. Families in New York were particularly affected in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Mercy Corps partnered with Bright Horizons Family Solutions, JP Morgan Chase and The Dougy Center to create Comfort for Kids, a program designed to aid families and children in New York City that might otherwise be overlooked by relief, recovery and counseling efforts such as those in refugee, immigrant and low-income communities. Over a year, Mercy Corps conducted more than 230 training sessions to help train parents and adults who work with children to overcome and move past their trauma and fear. Another integral part was the distribution of Comfort Kits to more than 12,500 of the city's most vulnerable children. The kits included flashlights, art supplies, books, music and stuffed animals, as well as a special guide for parents and a music CD with kid-friendly songs from around the world. Comfort for Kids also produced two valuable resources on how to help children cope with trauma and loss: a guidebook for parents and educators called What Happened to the World, and Helping Kids Heal, a book filled with over 75 activities to supplement and enrich the stages of children's healing. Other Emergencies Mercy Corps has also helped children recover from the trauma of natural disasters, conflict, violence and crisis in countries such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the West Bank and Honduras. Psychosocial programs for children are at the heart of many of Mercy Corps' emergency and long-term strategies wherever families have been thrown into turmoil. In the coming months, Mercy Corps will utilize the lessons it's learned and experience it's gained to make a critical difference for children who have suffered loss from Hurricane Katrina. Through partnerships with schools, daycare centers and local child service agencies, we will get kids the material, educational and psychological support they need to address the trauma of this event. For more information on how to talk with kids about disaster and tragedy, please visit the What Is Happening to the World page on the Bright Horizons web site. |
Four above on Katrina by children
| A 9-1-1 for 9/11 Raising Stable Kids in an Unstable World: A Physician's Guide to Dealing With Childhood Stress by David Ryan Marks, M.D. Knowing what to do or say to your children after a traumatic event is not always easy. Let's face it, this territory is new for most of us. Terrorism, threats and safety concerns used to be something that happened to “them” in some faraway country. We are entirely unprepared to deal with this new reality, but deal with it we must, or our children will suffer. We can help our children through uncertain and chaotic times. As I learned with my young children, you almost certainly can't keep them from finding out about the World Trade Center attacks, anthrax scares, plane crashes or threats of more terrorism. Kids are way too smart for that. In fact, if you try to hide the truth you may do more harm than good. You can, however, shape the way they interpret the information they receive. Parents take on many roles in our child's life; in this case, we become spin doctors. Kids need time to express their feelings, which is part of the cathartic process after a traumatic event. Younger children, especially those whose vocabulary is not sophisticated enough to deal with a trauma of this proportion (and whose really is?), may be clingy. Let them cling. Sometimes a hug is worth more than a thousand words. Letting children draw-art therapy-is another form of catharsis that may help children work through their fears. Although I was initially horrified when I saw Jacob's drawings of the disaster, I quickly realized that art was his way of expressing himself without letting down his six-year-old boy, macho, nothing-can-hurt-me, becoming- independent exterior. Children old enough to speak will probably also need to talk about their feelings. Your response should be age-appropriate for the child. Grade-school children may have questions about the disaster. Use simple, clear language to answer their questions. Don't lie to them or tell them there's nothing to worry about, but don't tell them more than they want to hear. Trying to put your child's feelings into words may also help. Try something like, “It's so sad that all those people died when the buildings fell down,” or “It's normal to be scared after seeing those planes crash.” Don't make light of the situation because your children will see right through you. Also do not make promises you can't keep. If you tell a child, “Don't worry, that won't happen again,” and another terrorist crashes a plane into a building, your child's trust may end up in ruins. The situation may be reversed in adolescents and teenagers. They may play down their concerns. You should encourage them to talk about their feelings. Older children who repress fear often act out and misbehave. They may also be more susceptible to depression. One sixteen-year-old girl I heard about was profoundly affected by the events of September 11, but she tried to ignore her fear and insecurity. When her parents tried to talk to her about the attacks, she told them, “I'm fine. I just want things to go back to normal.” She tried to pretend they were. A couple of weeks later, she started complaining of vague aches and pains over her entire body. First her legs hurt, then her arms and back took turns hurting. She also became very tired. Her doctor examined her and took blood tests and X-rays. They were all normal. The doctor's diagnosis: post- traumatic stress disorder. The girl's parents agreed. She is now in counseling to deal with her anxiety. When I tell parents this story, some of them flinch. As one father asked, “How am I supposed to help my child through this when I can barely comprehend it, much less deal with it myself?” Avoiding tough issues is not part of the parental job description. If you are having trouble dealing with the traumatic events yourself, communicating that trouble to an older, mature child may be okay. He will instinctively know anyway. However, don't lay all of your psychological burdens on him. Instead, use your feelings to show him that what he is going through is normal, and that healing will be possible over time.8 Some psychologists also suggest you give your child a sense of control over the situation. For example, nightmares and insomnia are quite common during a national crisis. If your child suffers from these symptoms, ask her, “What will make you feel better?” If she asks to sleep with you for a while, let her. Something as simple as reading an extra bedtime story could help. When you involve your children in the healing process, you help them recover the sense that they have some control over their lives.9 As part of being a spin doctor, you should try to monitor the flow of information your child receives. You can't stop children from talking to their friends. Indeed, such communication is often part of the healing process. However, limiting your child's exposure to the media can be a good idea. In the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, the twenty-four-hour-a-day television coverage (to which, I must admit, I contributed), and the repeated airing of the gruesome attack footage, nearly sank the entire country into a mass depression. We should not let that happen to our children. Keep young children from watching news broadcasts. I was told about one set of parents who came up with a slick way to do this without calling attention to their concern: they scheduled an activity like story time, or arts and crafts during the news. My family substitutes other activities instead of watching the news. I don't even want my children watching me on television because so many of my reports these days are about bioterrorism, PTSD, the war, etc. However, my children are young and their lives are still (relatively) controllable. Limiting media exposure for older children and teenagers is harder. The most important thing you can do is monitor the amount and type of their exposure, especially the Internet. If what they are watching, reading or surfing seems to make them more anxious, you may need to step in and impose some limits on their activities. As children grow older, they will like your intervention less. However, your involvement may prevent chronic anxiety and depression. There are other steps you can take. • Stick to a routine as much as possible. All humans, especially children, find comfort in routines. They add to a sense of security. • Do activities that reinforce the idea that one person can make a difference in providing hope and healing. These kinds of activities include raising money to help victims' families or writing letters of support to survivors. • Make sure your child eats a well-balanced diet and has plenty of opportunity to rest. These factors help children ward off the physical effects of stress. • Find ways to show your kids you love them. This book does not pretend to provide all the answers. However, I hope that it can help you help your children cope with the daily stress they will face in the aftermath of the attacks on our country. Some of these stresses are obvious and dramatic-a product of the new world disorder; others are more subtle-a result of the pressures we knowingly or unknowingly place on our children. In either case, stress can build up and have a devastating impact on a child as he or she grows up. Every generation hopes that their children will live better lives than they did. That's the American way, the dream that continues to beckon to people the world over. September 11 does not change that dream; the events of fall 2001 only make the dream more difficult to achieve. I hope this book will contribute in some small way to keeping that dream alive for all of us parents. © 2002 Health Communications, Inc. |
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- Child's drawing of landmines in Vietnam
Israeli children's drawings
By Beirut adolescent
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