Resources

By: Eve Chiles

For those battling the invisible wounds of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), words often fail. The overwhelming emotions, intrusive memories, and hypervigilance can feel trapped within, resistant to traditional verbal expression. Yet, a profound and accessible path to healing exists through the strokes of a brush, the moulding of clay, or the blending of colors: art therapy. More than just a creative hobby, engaging in art provides a vital therapeutic outlet, offering unique benefits for navigating the complex landscape of PTSD recovery.

Why Art Works When Words Stumble

PTSD fundamentally affects the brain, particularly areas involved in language and explicit memory, like Broca’s area. Trauma memories are often stored non-verbally as sensations, images, and emotions, making them incredibly difficult to articulate (Van Der Kolk, 2014). This is where art shines:

1. Bypassing the Verbal Blockade:
   Art provides a non-verbal channel for expression. Individuals can externalize their internal chaos – the fear, anger, numbness, or fragmented memories – onto paper, canvas, or through sculpture without needing to find the “right” words (Malchiodi, 2020). A dark, swirling painting might capture anxiety far more accurately than a sentence.
2. Regulating the Nervous System:
   The focused, rhythmic actions involved in art-making, like drawing repetitive patterns, kneading clay, or mindful coloring, can activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This helps counteract the hyperarousal state common in PTSD, promoting relaxation and grounding in the present moment (Hass-Cohen & Findlay, 2015).
3. Processing Trauma Safely:
   Art creates a tangible object that represents an internal state. This “objectification” provides psychological distance, allowing individuals to view and process traumatic material from a safer vantage point. It becomes something they can observe and work with, rather than being overwhelmed. (Walker et al., 2016).
4. Restoring Agency and Control:
   Trauma often involves a devastating loss of control. In the art space, the individual regains autonomy. They choose the medium, the colours, the subject (or non-subject), and how much to reveal. Each decision becomes an act of empowerment (Collie et al., 2006).
5. Integrating Fragmented Experiences: Creating art can help piece together fragmented memories and sensations associated with the trauma. Visualizing elements of the experience, even abstractly, can begin the process of making sense of the incomprehensible and integrating it into one’s life narrative.

References:

• Campbell, M., Decker, K. P., Kruk, K., & Deaver, S. P. (2016). Art Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy for Combat-Related PTSD: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 33(4), 169–177.
• Collie, K., Backos, A., Malchiodi, C., & Spiegel, D. (2006). Art therapy for combat-related PTSD: Recommendations for research and practice. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 23(4), 157–164.
• Hass-Cohen, N., & Findlay, J. C. (2015). Art therapy and the neuroscience of relationships, creativity, and resiliency: Skills and practices. W.W. Norton & Company.
• Malchiodi, C. A. (2020). Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process. Guilford Publications.
• Nanda, U., Barbato Gaydos, H. L., Hathorn, K., & Watkins, N. (2011). Art and posttraumatic stress: A review of the empirical literature on the therapeutic implications of artwork for war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Environment and Behavior, 43(3), 379–402.
• Van Der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.
• Walker, M. S., Kaimal, G., Koffman, R., & DeGraba, T. J. (2016). Art therapy for PTSD and TBI: A senior active duty military service member’s therapeutic journey. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 49, 10–18.