In my Theories of Art Therapy class, I facilitated a postmodern feminist punk rock art directive based on the narrative therapy approach.  For my initial presentation, I covered the history and culture of postmodernism, feminism, and punk rock; and touched on philosophers, theorists, and artists, such as Michel Foucault, Robert Rauschenberg, bell hooks, Pussy Riot, Jessica Masino Drass, and Shepard Fairey.  Some of my themes included deconstruction and reconstruction, multiple coexisting truths, questioning dominant narratives, and the DIY (do it yourself) mindset.  My art directive was divided into three parts: 1) a written narrative of patriarchal oppression, 2) flipping the script and creating an empowering artwork, and 3) putting together a visual community quilt and holding a popcorn discussion.

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For the first part, I designated five minutes for the class to sit in silence and write about a time when they experienced patriarchal oppression.  My intent for writing in silence was to provide greater attentional space for the class to access their memories and narratives without imposing any external sensory or affective stimuli.  Once the five-minute timer sounded, I advised the class of the prompt for the second part: flipping the script and making an empowering artwork.  During the next 15 minutes, they could use any materials and techniques that felt right to transform their written narrative into a new artwork.  For example, they could cut or tear up their narrative and collage it, draw or paint on top of it, or even fold it into a paper airplane and throw it out the window!

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The class seemed excited by the prospect of making artwork to punk rock music, so I went ahead and played it on my speaker.  As Pussy Riot, X-Ray Spex, and Pleasure Venom belted rebellious feminist lyrics from the top of their lungs, I witnessed the narrative papers being vigorously torn up, punctured, crumpled, folded, wrapped, and marked up.  For part three, I allocated ten minutes for everyone to create a visual community quilt and engage in an optional popcorn discussion.  My goal was to model a matriarchal (non-authoritarian) structure to support our group in its empowerment process.  While everyone placed their artwork on the table in the center of the classroom, several ultimately decided not to talk about their artwork.  Whether or not my classmates spoke, I found the most valuable aspect of the visual community quilt was the opportunity for everyone to bear witness to each other’s artwork and empowerment process.  By doing so, we created a brave space woven together by mutual pain and resilience.

 

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In my Research Methods class, I wrote a literature review titled “Can Art Therapy Be Used as an Integration Modality for Repressed Trauma and Mystical Experiences With Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Clients?”.  With the Psychedelic Renaissance underway, more psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies (PAPs) are on track to become a part of mainstream mental healthcare for clients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  PTSD often causes repressed traumatic memories that can be difficult to access and meaningfully integrate into clients’ lives with conventional talk therapy.  Art therapy, which utilizes art as a form of non-verbal communication and integration, has the potential to effectively treat clients undergoing PAPs for PTSD.  Other than increased neuronal communication and neuroplasticity, PAP’s major mechanisms of action are access to repressed trauma and mystical experiences (MEs), both of which are highly ineffable phenomena.

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Not only do many psychedelics have dissociative properties that can make speaking difficult, but newly accessed trauma that has been repressed in the lower regions of the brain is nearly inarticulable.  In PAP, post-therapy integration is critical for helping clients to meaningfully process their experiences, emotionally heal, and make lasting behavioral changes.  Of the legal clinics that offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP), few of them offer integration services.  The ketamine clinics that offer integration services are usually focused on talk therapy, which can be contradictory to the needs of clients who are challenged by the inability to verbalize their MEs and repressed trauma.  In this literature review, relevant research has been collected and organized in order to piece together a valid picture of art therapy integration for repressed trauma and MEs with PAP clients. 

 

Please click here to read my full literature review.
 

In my Art Therapy Materials and Techniques class, I co-facilitated a group art experiential titled “Formless & Structure”, which was intended to help clients discover symbolic language and meaning for integrating less conscious affective states.  By moving through the Expressive Therapies Continuum’s (ETC) hierarchy from the sensory bottom to the symbolic top, we sought to fully engage our class in a multi-modal process that may access change and learning through many neurological pathways.  “Formless & Structure” was divided into two ten-minute sections, in which our class would first use fluid dry media to move through the kinesthetic, sensory, and affective ETC components; then cross over to the perceptual, cognitive, and symbolic components using resistive dry media.  Overall, I noted a general trend of students defining two-dimensional formless artworks into structured compositions with contrasting edges that often became sculptural.  Many of the resulting artworks exhibited either vague or specific representational symbolism.

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Altogether, “Formless & Structure” addresses the integration of unconscious affect through symbolic meaning-making.  In the spirit of Carl Gustav Jung, I believe that discovering and integrating split-off parts of ourselves leads to greater wholeness and mental health.  Debilitating illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder stem from trauma being fragmented and stuck in the reptilian brain and limbic system.  One of the few ways trauma can be accessed is through somatic and non-verbal processes such as art therapy.  By beginning at the lower somatic levels of the ETC and working up to non-verbal symbolism, I believe it may be possible to access, integrate, and regulate difficult affective states associated with mental illness. 

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Please click here to read my full essay reflection.