Depicting confusing emotions

Background/Rationale: Today I met with a bright young woman who is experiencing feelings of depression. Today was our third meeting, and she has already mentioned how she doesn't like to talk about herself or her feelings.
This woman, who I will refer to as M, sat down and with some prompting, began to explore the feelings of heaviness that she used to describe her emotional state over the past few days. She thoughtfully tried to explain what heaviness feels like-- not exactly sad, not exactly upset, not angry or hurt.
I explained to M that sometimes when we are experiencing a confusing emotion, that it can be helpful to depict the feeling using line, shape, and color -- that images are more primal than words, and that images can often express nuances in a way that words cannot. Additionally, representing emotions visually offers the art-maker the opportunity to de-fuse from thoughts and feelings, and look at these thoughts and feelings from a witness level consciousness. Or in other words, art can help us to look at our thoughts and emotions rather than through them.
Materials/Procedure: M was a willing participant, and chose large white paper and markers. M began her depiction with vibrantly colored wavy lines loosely framing the picture. M then used a gray marker to draw a large gray dot in the center of the page. She then used gray, brown, and black to chaotically surround the dot, in way that closely resembled a bird's nest. M continued to frame and reframe the "nest" with more colors until most of the page was filled with wavy lines and the "nest." M came to an unprompted stopping point and deemed her depiction as complete.

Processing: M and I began processing her artwork. We started by noticing the starting point of her process-- the colorful border lines. M initially referred to these lines as life, happiness, positive energy. M noticed how these lines mostly did not reach the center of the picture, or "the nest." There were some points of brief intersection. M reflected on this observation, stating that she ventures out from the center, and others briefly venture in towards the center, but those moments are fleeting and unpredictable.
We pondered the curiosity of whether or not the darker colors had to have a place in the picture. M affirmed that they did need to have a place in the picture, but she wishes they carried less weight and prominence. M then created a second picture depicting a time in her life when she felt lighter and happier. This second picture showed wavy lines in a variety of colors all moving inward and outward, without the barrier of the nest to contend with. This depiction lacked an obvious, concrete center, although an implied center was evident. M stated that she was much less "to herself" during this time, that others were flowing through the center regularly and without obstruction.

I was reluctant to push my "nest" interpretation onto M, and disclosed this concern to her. However, "the nest" interpretation seemed to resonate with M, and we used this language as the basis for a deeper metaphorical exploration. I asked M what is the purpose of a nest. Safety? Protection? A home? Student responded that her depicted nest was not her home. Her home actually existed in the border of bright and cheerful border. M identified her mother, father, brother, and her dog as separate lines that worked together to form the border. M stated, through tears, that she never feels dark and heavy at home with her family.
This observation gave us the opportunity to look at M's relationships on campus in comparison to her relationships at home. And offered the question, how can we integrate important aspects of home into M so that she can carry them with her on her journey to adulthood.
Comparing the two pieces of artwork also created space to explore the concept of vulnerability and M's own sense of openness toward others who seem to want to have a deeper, more thoughtful relationship with her.
Conclusion:
I asked M if she would like to take home her artwork or if she would like for me to keep it safe in my office. She told me that she wants to revisit this artwork in therapy because it offers a helpful tool to explore, articulate, and understand her emotions with more clarity.

Back to the Basics

I enjoy my job so much more when I'm using art with my students. Art therapy offers new ways of looking at problems and solutions, and it feels more interesting, more helpful. But for some reason, sometimes I fall out of practice. I begin encouraging my students to sit in the comfy chair rather than at the art-making table. I think it feels safer to me, and I think it protects my students from having to get out of their comfort zone and try something new.

But recently, I started Brene Brown's Living Brave Semester. And one of the "Arenas," (Arena = area of life where you want to practice courage and authenticity) that I identified was: I want to be a braver counselor. A brave counselor is one who is present, truthful, and willing to use her gifts, skills, and wisdom in order to help students foster necessary acceptance and change.

How does a person get back in the arena once she has left it? Perhaps the answer is returning to the fundamentals and beginning to put them into practice.




What are the "Basics" of art therapy?
  • Trusting the process and believing that the Process will always show up - no matter what
  • Owning the belief that art-making is meaning-making, and that we are here to create and contribute
  • Meeting the student where he is
  • Creating a nonjudgmental space where "failure" becomes a valued part of the learning process
  • Having art supplies prepared and available
  • Practicing the willingness to take small risks through our art-making-- in the hope that we will develop a friendly attitude toward playful exploration and risk-taking in our daily lives
  • Recalling some of the essential Art Therapy intervention strategies and regarding these strategies as a starting place or fodder for intuitive modification.
    1. Mad, Sad, Glad, Scared
    2. Create a Safe Place
    3. Trauma Tree
    4. Creative Lifelines
    5. Scribble Chase
    6. Mandalas
    7. Magazine Photo Collage
    8. Family Sculpture
    9. Person-in-Tree Assessment
    10. How I see myself/ How others see me
    11. Bridging Emotions
    12. Bridge Drawing
    13. Haptic Self Symbol
    14. Art Journaling
    15. Artful acts of kindness
What other Art Therapy "Basics" would you include?

In making the list of some of what I consider to be essential intervention strategies, I realize I haven't done formal posts on some of these directives. It's good to have some immediate inspiration for future posts!



Begin Again

Greetings! For a couple of years, I switched The Art Therapy Catablog to private after receiving some criticism by one of the "greats" in the field. In retrospect, I think it's fair to say that my reaction was a severe over-reaction, born of my fear of being visible and vulnerable-- of"being in the arena."

The sad effect of my public blog going private was that I stopped contributing to it. I love having a space to record what I'm learning, and I love sharing my thoughts and ideas with interested readers. Being in the field of counseling and art therapy can be difficult and discouraging at times, and we need one another to cope, to grow, to inspire, to connect.

So, with that-- I'm re-establishing this blog as a place to learn and grow and share together. Welcome!