What is trauma and what art therapy can do for you

 I am constantly inspired by the power of image-making. It never ceases to amaze me how creative expression has the capacity to tap into the innermost human experience that may be inaccessible to verbal expression. Therefore, the role that art therapy can play in the processing of and healing from trauma is hugely significant.

In the above context, I would like to talk about a client that I worked with a few years ago. 

I started working with Tasha (pseudonym) when she was 5 years old. At 3 years of age Tasha had suffered from horrendous sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Tasha who was now living with her aunt (the abuse had been reported and the father incarcerated) was brought for art therapy because she was unable to settle down and form an attachment to the latter. Tasha had no conscious memory of the abuse she had suffered many times, hence when asked who her favourite person was, she would reply, “my father”.

You may ask, what good could it have done poor Tasha to dig up her abusive past through therapy? Why not let the trauma remain hidden? To better understand why Tasha was brought for art therapy to process her trauma and how it helped her, let's take a deeper look at the aetiology of trauma.

Tasha's artwork

Trauma is a psychological phenomenon caused by a distressing and/or life-threatening event that can cause chronic anxiety or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the sufferer. Trauma can occur due to various reasons, the most common being: illness, accident, abuse, war, divorce, loss and so on.

Post-trauma the victim goes through various phases such as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. This is also called processing the trauma or finding a resolution for it.  However, in cases such as Tasha’s, the trauma occurred in early childhood and was so severe that it became repressed or was wiped out from her conscious memory.

Unprocessed trauma can have long-term negative consequences, ranging from insecurity, emotional numbing, anger/aggression, addiction, self-harm and nightmares etc.  No matter what the intensity of the trauma or it’s cause it is advisable not to ignore its occurrence.

Research shows that when trauma occurs in childhood, its memories are stored in the right hemisphere of the brain that is pre-verbal and not accessible through language. Therefore, verbalizing the trauma is not possible just as happened in Tasha’s case.  In order to gain access to Tasha’s  memory  of her abuse it became necessary to tap into a part of her brain that was non-verbal where the trauma could be accessed without re-traumatising her. Hence she was referred for art therapy. In order for her to heal and to come to terms with what she had gone through, the traumatic memories had to be reviewed at a non-verbal level first so that eventually, they could be transformed into non-traumatic memories or contextualised in a way that would enable her to accept what had happened.

The time to process trauma depends upon its severity and it would have required many years of therapy for Tasha to come to terms with her abuse but at least coming for art therapy was a start. I was able to see Tasha for a few months before I moved on to another placement but I hope she continued on the journey that she had begun.

It is advisable to be vigilant around our families and children and attend to signs of anxiety and/or stress without brushing them aside. With children especially, it is critical to equip them with the knowledge of abuse/molestation and to inculcate in them trust and confidence to talk about these issues if and when they occur. Even though some of us may not have access to therapy or therapists, sometimes just opening up to a loved one and talking through things can be liberating and therapeutic.

To stimm or not to stimm

Silently he walks up to the lazyboy and fits himself snuggly into it’s seat in a foetal position. The pencil that a moment ago was just a thing to be held at all times suddenly takes on a new life. Mo lifts it up to his face and starts to flick it to and fro in close proximity to his eyes with both thumbs and forefingers deftly controlling it’s momentum. Suddenly he seems to enter a state of bewitchment. As he reaches a certain point in his repertoire his features contort to match the intensity of the movement.

“Stop it Moeez You are stimming too much!”  he hears a familiar voice rudely interrupting his ritual. Sometimes he stops for a few seconds to pacify the interloper, at others he has been heard saying “You tell me I am autistic. Autistic people stimm. Then let me stimm!”

Stimming or self-stimulatory behaviour to the on looker presents itself as a repetition of physical movement, sounds or objects. Common examples of stimming are hand flapping, rocking, head banging, squealing and so on.

 To the person with autism it is a self-regulatory mechanism that calms them down, makes them feel good by blocking out external stimuli which may be overwhelming to them and indeed free up some of their neural space to focus on other cognitive tasks.

The fact is that its not only individuals on the spectrum that stimm. You and I stimm as well! What do you think you are doing when you are tapping your feet incessantly during an interview or flicking your toes at night under your comforters to lull yourself into slumber? Us neurotypicals simply get away with our stimms because they don’t look odd or are not socially inappropriate.

I am all for teaching autistic children socially acceptable behaviour and of course one cannot allow their stimming rituals to compromise their safety and health but before we label them as ‘abnormal’ and ‘retarded’ (yes these words are still in use) let us try and enter their world for a few minutes where the texture of a shirt may perpetually feel like sand paper rubbing against the skin, the sound of the fan  comparable to a running chain close to the ears  or the movement of a swing seem like a roller coaster ride. Would one not be forced to engage in all sorts of ‘stimms”?

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  the prevalence of autistic children is 1 in 68 in the USA. That is a lot of autistic individuals amongst us. So last year, in response to my nagging him about his stimming, when Mo told me, “ Mama, stimming is a part of who I am,” instead of reprimanding him, I felt a huge pride in my son who had asserted his right to be who he was meant to be. In my eyes, that day my 5 foot 1 inch 17 year old stood a foot taller than me. 

Tribute to a best friend

From right to left: Moeez, Maahir, Murad and Mikail

The day Maahir called up Moeez and told him that he  was his best friend Moeez was over the moon. Now if If you ask Moeez who is his best friend he will say “Maahir”.

Reality is that Maahir is Moeez’s younger brother Murad’s close friend. Moeez who is older to both boys by two years (he is 18 yrs) is my eldest son and is on the spectrum.He like most children with autism has great difficulty in forging relationships with his peers. According to him, “I want to make friends but I just don’t know how”. Despite years of social skills training he still suffers from extreme challenges in this area. According to Moeez, Murad falls under the category of a sibling, therefore he cannot be a friend. Then how come Maahir fit the bill?

Maahir is a close family friend’s son who has grown up with my boys. He is a sensitive and loving child and as far back as I can remenber has gone the extra mile to show Moeez genuine affection and sensitivity. Moeez has been a part of almost every playdate between Maahir and Murad without any objection from either boy. In fact at times, Moeez is the one who has to be compelled to join in as according to Maahir, “It’s not the same without him”.

The truth is that during the playdates Moeez rarely initiates an activity. He will engage with the boys at will and withdraw from them similarly. There have been days that he has shown complete lack of interest and has to be coaxed to be a part of a game or a conversation. However, his erratic behaviour has never had an impact on Moeez’s relationship with Maahir who is as caring and embracing as always.

My wish is that for every child with special needs, there is a Maahir out there as his/her best friend and a Murad as his/her brother.

The nature of art materials

The most well known art materials, are paints, pencils, crayons, markers and perhaps play dough or clay. We all have our favourites. Some of us feel at ease with one medium and always prefer it over the others. For those of us who like to use a variety, we may choose a particular material one day because we just ‘feel’ like it or are in the ‘mood’ for it.

These seemingly simple ingredients that help us express our creative selves are anything but that. Each one of them has inherent qualities within them that evoke a certain response within the human form and psyche. These qualities are related to the rhythm and movement of the material, its texture and its applicability.

For instance, paint is fluid and  hard to control. It is evocative in nature and has the capacity to bring out emotions. Pencil which is rigid and goes along with the will of its handler lends itself to subordination. It is a medium that may feel attractive to someone who requires a certain degree of caution. Markers are permanent and though are more easily controlled than paint, their imprint cannot be erased like that of a pencil, thus, their use requires confidence and a certain degree of skill. Clay is earthy, it is malleable and can take a fair degree of pounding. It can cause regression and is also capable of containing irate and aggressive impulses.

An art therapist has a deep knowledge of art materials and their potential to induce or exteriorize certain emotional states. He/she is trained to maximise the potential of these materials which in a sense are his/her tools within the therapeutic space/relationship.

Within the context of ASD art materials can be used to promote self-regulation as well as sensory modulation due to their multi-sensory properties. 

So the next time you feel like painting and not drawing, maybe you should stop and reflect on why you are attracted to the latter ;)

The Ballerina

Tippy toed I paint the canvas of my dreams

Whirling, twirling, dancing, prancing

Nature’s child, from nature, to nature

I come to fulfil my destiny

Inspiration can come from anywhere, from within and without, from the touch of a hand, the scent of nature, the memory of a moment and even the sound of silence. Alas, it kept running away from me these past few days; the more I tried to catch it, the faster it ran until I laid my eyes on ‘The Ballerina’. The drawing below was made almost a decade ago by an intellectually challenged girl who aspired to be a ballerina. I had bought it then and after a couple of house moves it ended up in some part of my storage till recently.

   The Ballerina. A little girls dream

Not too long ago I drew the artwork below on a much larger scale.  I believed then that I had been inspired by the whirling dervishes of Konya. Today as I look at ‘The Ballerina’ which has finally emerged from my store,  I am not convinced that the dance of the sufis was my only inspiration. I know now that the little girl’s dream had stayed with me all all these years.

  

Untitled by Huma