Healing Through Art
Josh Yetter, Clinical Director at Center for Prevention of Abuse
Late, great author Kurt Vonnegut once advised, “Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.” This experience of becoming is one we often take for granted. We are in a constant state of becoming—learning, growing, changing, adapting—leaving our small mark on the world. Through art and, more broadly, through the process of creation, we become an active participant in this process. Art is expression, creating a product of feeling and idea. Many of its mediums provide us a voice through which to speak when words fail. It challenges us to plumb the depths of thought and emotion, connecting with us with what’s inside.
I often share with clients that trauma creates contraction. For fear of safety, guilt, shame, and self-blame, we withdraw from the world, and in doing so, withdraw from ourselves. Through trauma, we begin to forget who we are, or never truly learn, and therefore act with less presence and authenticity. Where we may have once felt capable of fully feeling, we suddenly feel ill-equipped to deal with the magnitude of thought and emotion that assails us with sudden regularity. Healthy ways of coping—connection, engagement, presence, self-expression—no longer feel safe or tolerable. We develop coping habits that isolate us from the world—avoidance, distraction, escapism. This common response to trauma establishes a set of habits and core beliefs that move us away from our values. We lose sight of what truly matters, who we are, and who we want to be in relation to the world. Constant threats to our well-being, real or perceived, keep us stuck in survival mode, wherein we forgo long-term planning and goal setting for immediate safety and reward.
Therapeutically, the creative process provides a safe, controlled container for productive expression. We make the time and space for ourselves to process big, heavy thoughts and feelings in more tolerable ways. In this space, we learn skills needed to better manage and regulate emotions, thereby scaling back time spent stuck in survival mode. With this new peace, time is found for self-advocacy, boundary setting, planning, and stabilization. We can afford to spend more time with those parts of ourselves we’ve lost touch with, thereby (re)discovering who we are, what we want, and what we value. We build the courage to act in congruence with those parts of us out in the world. Bit by bit, we step back into ourselves, begin to speak with our authentic voice, and, ultimately, find our confidence and inner strength.
While art is but one path towards healing, it represents an essential throughline across all therapeutic modalities. Somehow, we must find a way to bear the unbearable; to create for ourselves safe spaces to discover, feel, express, and share. In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Healing cannot happen in isolation. That others bear witness to what we carry—the feelings, memories, and beliefs—is essential. As with art, it takes a special kind of courage to express what’s inside, to speak one’s truth, and to intentionally make oneself vulnerable to judgement, criticism, and doubt. To heal from trauma is to apply that courage in ways which help us reengage with the experience of becoming, to rediscover what was once thought lost. Our challenge is to expand that which has contracted, and in so doing, bring our true selves back into the world.
