Trauma is a unique experience; no two people will experience trauma in the same exact way, thus the impact and responses to trauma are unique as well.\u00a0 To better understand the various responses to trauma, research has found trauma is stored in the body through our somatic memory, specifically, the nervous system in the brain (Van der Kolk, 1994).\u00a0 Furthermore, trauma can manifest through somatic flashbacks in the form of physical sensations, including tastes, smells, pain and haptic experiences.\u00a0 Somatic flashbacks support the notion that memories, particularly trauma experiences, are stored in visual form.\u00a0 When a traumatic event occurs, the Broca\u2019s area of the brain, responsible for language, shuts down.\u00a0 Simultaneously, the amygdala, the recognition center for danger in the brain, is put on high alert, resulting in the brain visually recording the traumatic event (Rausch et al., 1996).<\/p>\n
To help individuals work through trauma that is held visually and physiologically, imagery and verbal expression can be introduced.\u00a0 In particular, art expression has been found to effectively assist in grappling with sensory memories and facilitating a narrative to explore memories and flashbacks (Malchiodi, 2003).\u00a0 When somatic memories are explored through art expression, an individual is able to develop an understanding of why they may be experiencing certain physical sensations to a particular event.\u00a0 A unique feature of art therapy is that interpretation of the art created is completely up to the artist, allowing them to create their own language of expression.\u00a0 Moreover, art therapy promotes growth, self-expression, emotional reparation, conflict resolution and transformation (Malchiodi, 1998).<\/p>\n
A positive aspect of art therapy is that it provides a medium, art and its subsequent expression, that is not available in many other therapies and forms of expression.\u00a0 However, caution should also be taken when using art therapy.\u00a0 Art therapy should be used as art and therapy, with the understanding art is not therapy on it own.\u00a0 Rubin (1999) stresses \u201ctherapy is not enough; art is not enough either\u201d.<\/p>\n
There are many forms of trauma-informed art therapy, below are common modalities utilized within carceral settings and how they allow for self-expression.<\/p>\n
San Quentin State Prison, California, has a program called ArtReach which \u201cprovides a platform for artists on San Quentin\u2019s death row to exhibit their art and creativity\u201d. I invite you to peruse the site.\u00a0 The art created includes paintings, drawings, poems, and papers.\u00a0 Many of the poems and drawings capture the trauma of incarceration, being on death row, as well as self-revelations, personal growth, and peace.\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/www.artofsanquentin.com\/<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Malchiodi, C. A. (1998). The art therapy sourcebook. Los Angeles: Lowell House.<\/p>\n
Malchiodi, C. A. (Ed.). (2003). Handbook of art therapy. New York, NY: Guilford<\/p>\n
Rausch, S.L., van der Kolk, B. A., Fisler, R.E. & Alpert, N.M. (1996) A symptom provocation study of posttraumatic stress disorder using positron emission tomography and script-driven imagery. Archives of General Psychiatry. 53(5), pp.380-387.<\/p>\n
Van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress. Harvard Review of Psychiatry<\/em>, 1(5), 253\u2013265.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trauma is a unique experience; no two people will experience trauma in the same exact way, thus the impact and responses to trauma are unique as well.\u00a0 To better understand the various responses to trauma, research has found trauma is stored in the body through our somatic memory, specifically, the nervous system in the brain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2491,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions\/2491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}