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Open Art Studio 18+
Category: Psychology
Bilateral Drawing: Self-Regulation for Trauma Reparation Let’s draw on the power of both hands to modulate stress.
Posted Sep 29, 2015 by Cathy Malchiodi PhD, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT
In working with survivors of acute and repeated traumatic events over the last several decades, I am always particularly conscious of individuals’ self-regulating capacities initially and throughout our work together. Self-regulation is currently a ubiquitous term used to describe not only the capacity to control one’s impulses, but also to be able to soothe and calm the body’s reactions to stress. It is the ability to modulate affective, sensory and somatic responses that impact all functioning including emotions and cognition. It also refers to the brain’s executive function to control impulses, delay actions if necessary and initiate them if necessary, even if one does not want to.
By the simplest definition, bilateral simply means “involving two sides.” Sensory integration is often associated with bilateral techniques that assist individuals in organizing specific sensations via methods found in occupational therapy. In the process of reparation from psychological trauma, various forms of bilateral stimulation or movement seem to be effective in engaging cross-hemisphere activity in the brain (Shapiro, 2001) and in art therapy possibly because it reconnects “thinking” and “feeling” (Malchiodi, 2003/2011) via the sensory-based processes involved in art making. These applications seem to have an impact on recovery from traumatic events because for many individuals, the limbic system and right hemisphere of the brain are hyperactivated by actual experiences or memories of trauma. In brief, specific processes found in bilateral stimulation may help regulate body and mind thus allowing explicit memory to be reconnected with implicit memory.
Source: Bilateral Scribble Drawing from collection of Cathy Malchiodi
Bilateral drawing is a deceptively simple art-based activity that has been around since at least the 1950s that capitalizes on self-regulating properties similar to rocking, walking, cycling or drumming. Some art therapy practitioners refer to bilateral drawing as “scribbling with both hands” because the intent is not necessarily to make a specific image, but to instead just engage both hands in spontaneous drawing with chalks, pastels or other easily manipulated art materials. Like many art and expressive arts therapists, I have used this activity for several decades and actually learned it during college art courses as a way of “loosening up” before beginning to draw or paint. Florence Cane (1951) is one of many early art therapy practitioners who observed a connection between free-form gestural drawing on paper, the kinesthetic sense involved in movement, and the embodied qualities of the experience. In her work with children and adults in the mid-20th century, Cane hypothesized that it is important to engage individuals through movements that go beyond the use of the hands to engage the whole body in natural rhythms. In particular, she refers to large swinging gestures that come from the shoulder, elbow or wrist to not only liberate creative expression, but also act in a restorative capacity to support healthy rhythms in the body and mind. In other words, these rhythmic movements can be practiced in the air and then later transferring them to paper with drawing materials.
Image: “Mindscape” Kristin Kane, MA, LMFT, ATR from Visual Art Journal 2016
President Obama Declares October as National Arts and Humanities Month
AATA
October 6, 2016
The American Art Therapy Association and our friends at Americans for the Arts are celebrating October as National Arts and Humanities Month! President Obama has already kicked things off by issuing an official White House Proclamation that articulates the importance of the arts and culture in our history and in our future. He states, “In many ways, the arts and humanities reflect our national soul. They are central to who we are as Americans—as dreamers and storytellers, creators and visionaries. By investing in the arts, we can chart a course for the future in which the threads of our common humanity are bound together with creative empathy and openness.”
Get Involved
- This year, the #ShowYourArt campaign has been designed to engage arts advocates on local, state, and national levels, and to bring awareness of National Arts and Humanities Month to the public. For each day in October, the #ShowYourArt campaign will be issuing a unique theme that challenges participants to showcase how art is reflected in those themes every day. See p. 2 of this article for daily themes.
- Participate in the National Creative Conversation on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016 from 9-10 p.m. ET to connect and chat with arts advocates nationwide about the arts in communities. The conversation will focus on the question of “Where are the arts popping up in your community?”
- Using these resources, organize and host a community event at a local arts venue.
- Boost your creativity by joining in the Creative Sprint, a global art game that engages individuals, businesses, schools, and community organizations for 30 consecutive days of art making and sharing.
Art therapists are uniquely positioned to speak on the role of the creative arts in mental health, a topic of great importance for individuals, communities, organizations, and legislation. Join us in promoting National Arts and Humanities month and raising awareness for the importance of the arts!
Creative Art Therapies Week, 2016!
In honor of Creative Art Therapies Week, March 13-19, 2016, I would like to spotlight Art of Counseling, pllc, whose mission is to create a unique specialty using Creative Art Therapies to foster emotional healing, encourage internal resiliency, enhance personal relationships and give a unique perspective to human storytelling and expression. Art of Counseling is a psychotherapy group practice located in Saint Paul, Minnesota that provides mental health services to clients in the metro area. We have clinicians that are Registered Art Therapists (ATR & ATR-BC); trained in movement, play and poetry therapies; licensed or on track for Marriage and Family Therapy (LMFT) or Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC); trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and intertwines a trauma-informed therapy model in our clinicians’ individual theoretic model of therapy.
Clients that have been attracted to our unique approach have been those who struggle with feeling stuck, depressed mood, anxious, nightmares and sleep issues, trauma, dissociation, self-harm and risk taking, shame and guilt, childhood issues, anger, addictive behavior, eating and body image issues, sex and sexuality, cultural exploration, blended family situations, couples and marriage counseling, abandonment, grief and loss, etc. Even though we in-network for some insurances, Art of Counseling is proud to say that our clinicians’ dedicate a percentage of their case load to individuals on a sliding-fee-scale or pro bono, to help bridge the gap for affordable mental health services. We recognize Creative Art Therapies Week honors the importance of how the arts can heal, enhance and help us all to grow.
Meet Our New Therapist
Meet our newest addition to Art of Counseling, Cindy!
Cindy Tsay MEd, ATR. Arts-Based Psychotherapist
Cindy Tsay Direct Line: (651)318-0109 Ext# 705 Fax: (651)344-0515
Cindy brings a genuine and empathetic relationship into her work with clients. Her arts-based approach to psychotherapy is based on the belief that creative non-verbal expressions can provide emotional relief and self-awareness into relationships.
Cindy is originally from Taipei, Taiwan and has been in the U.S. Since 2004. Her rich cultural experiences nurture her sensitivity in how the larger culture, spiritual, and family contexts influence our self identity. Through art therapy and talk therapy, she has experience working with a variety of treatment concerns including; depression, anxiety, emotional trauma, sex addiction, anger management, and difficult issues related to our family of origin.
Cindy believes that underneath our relationships, behaviors, and feelings, we yearn for a desire to be heard and understood. In therapy, she provides her clients a safe environment to express, to learn, and to grow in our ability to build authentic relationships with ourselves and with others.
Cindy is a Registered Art Therapist (ATR) and is currently working towards another Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Education, Training and Affiliations:
American Art Therapy Association
American Marriage and Family Therapy Association
Minnesota Board of Marriage and Family Therapy
Post-Masters Marriage and Family Therapy Certificate, Bethel Seminary, St Paul, MN
Master of Education, Art Therapy, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Bachelor of Arts, Fine Arts and K-12 Art Education, Concordia University, Ann Arbor, MI
Teaching English as Second Language Certificate, YawWah International Center, Shanghai, China
Art Therapy and Neuroplasticity: How Creativity Can Heal Trauma
Art Therapy and Neuroplasticity: How Creativity Can Heal Trauma
By Kristin Kane
Through studies encompassing neurobiology, neuroplasticity, and differing functions of the right-brain and left-brain hemispheres, as well as the uncovering of the mirror neuron system, it is now possible to provide scientific evidence for the claim that art therapy is effective in treating a variety of disorders and symptoms including trauma.
Traumatic memory is not inherently verbal. It is felt physically. It is known emotionally. It is re-experienced visually. Yet, to prevent serious mental health issues from taking root, the brain must learn to analyze and understand the trauma as it does other events. As such, there is hope for healing in the sensory and visual experience of art making during art therapy.
During an art therapy intervention, the client has an opportunity to express and externalize his or her inner thoughts and feelings related to the traumatic experience as well the opportunity to process these thoughts and feelings though joining with an empathetic other, the art therapist.
Evidence points to the benefit of not only recounting a challenging experience in the past but also the importance of reframing those experiences as meaningful and connected to a core belief system. Art making can be a vehicle for the expression and externalization of deep and intense emotions and memories. Reclaiming the authorship and perceived meaning of past experiences through art making results in an increased sense of flexibility regarding reactions to external events. This increased flexibility and malleability transforms past negative memories from uncontrollably invading present functioning.
Creativity engagement through art making leads to growth and changes in thought patterns in the brain and can alter dysfunctional behaviors. Art making in a therapeutic environment can create changes in neural network connections as well as increase cognitive flexibility. As options for solving a “creative task” problem expand during the creative process, so do opportunities for neuroplasticity and long-term changes in neural networks in the brain. During the creative process, neurons are utilized and connected in new ways that were not previously connected, therefore increasing possibilities for change and increased healing opportunities.
Healing With Mandala Art Therapy
Mandala is the Sanskrit word for “circle” or “completion” and has spiritual meaning in many cultures.
Creating a mandala in art therapy can be a relaxing and centering process for self-discovery and healing.
The following link describes the process of creating a mandala in art therapy:
The following link describes the history of the mandala:
Healing With Mandala Art Therapy – A Multi-Cultural Idea Worth Exploring
A Mind That is Still
A Mind That is Still
By Judith Froemming c. 2015
“There’s a mind running loose
that thinks peace is elusive,
puts its head in a noose
judges quiet as reclusive.
There’s a mind making stories
that’s certain they’re true,
creating monsters and worries
until the heart turns blue.
There’s a mind that is still and
as stories float by,
treats them kindly as children
lets them go without ‘Why?'”
photo by Deva Niseema
Art Therapy: What is it?
Art Therapy: It’s Not Just an Art Project
Art therapy, in all cases, is a purposeful, relational intervention.
Cathy Malchiodi PhD, LPCC, LPAT
Source: © 2015 Photograph by Cathy Malchiodi, PhD
In “Art Therapy’s Achilles Heel” [April 2014], I explained that it is not surprising that uses of art making for self-help, self-regulation and self-exploration are ubiquitous. In part, this reflects the natural inclination of humankind to find reparation through creative expression throughout history not only in the form of visual arts, but also through movement and dance, music and sound, dramatic enactment and performance and imaginative play. But this aspect of human evolutionary biology also brings up the question, “Are there circumstances where art itself is the proverbial ‘therapist?’ This is a question that continues to rankle the profession called “art therapist” as well as those who are trying to establish a clearly defined scope of practice for the field. This question magnifies what is a painful and somewhat glaring vulnerability within the profession—that unless there is a clear, unified definition of “what is art therapy,” it is difficult at best to articulate a profession as separate from what is a widely used self-help approach.
According to this longstanding definition, art therapy consists of a continuum of practice, with “art as therapy” at one end and “art psychotherapy” at the other end. Despite the existence of this and other similar definitions, one does not have to look very far into current social media to see how easily art therapy has been morphed into just about any “feel-good” art project on the grid. A good example of what is currently being called “art therapy” is the adult coloring book phenomenon. Coloring book fanatics proclaim that filling in pre-made designs is even a form of mindfulness and meditation that brings about benefits far beyond mere relaxation or diversion. While coloring books are not mindfulness practices in the true sense of the word, the responses [and millions of coloring book sales] anecdotally reflect that many people do “feel better” when coloring in pre-made designs.
Yes, it is important to “feel-good” and as a professional, that is what I want for each and every child, adult, family or group I see in my expressive arts therapy practice. I want each and every client to be able to use creative expression to feel better [aka resolve challenges] on a regular basis and hopefully not need my services ever again. However, the deeper experience of “art therapy” is not only based in pleasurable creative expression, it is grounded two basic concepts. First, it involves the application of a purposeful, meaningful art-based intervention in contrast to an art activity or art “project.” While some think the idea of “intervention” is not part of the art therapeutic relationship, intervention is the necessary specific, focused action that is taken to achieve or support change within any therapy of any kind. Applying interventions is a central component of any helping professional’s role and is predicated on the second aspect– relationship. It is the right-hemisphere-to-right-hemisphere, attuned, interpersonal qualities of the art therapy relationship that support art’s reparative powers. Ultimately, humans as a species have always repaired, recovered and healed within relationships, whether through social support or community or through relationships found in the formal services of a mental health or healthcare professional. So while art expression may bring about a sense of wellness in some sense, it’s the relational aspects that are at the center of reparation and recovery through well-targeted interventions– this is what defines and differentiates “art therapy.”
Granted, there will always be those who find art’s healing forces on their own, often in times of trauma, crisis or loss, or simply as a means to reduce stress. Most who are passionate about art therapy “the profession” discovered our calling because we have had our own transformative experiences with art. But without both the clear articulation of purposeful art-based interventions and specific relational dynamics that support these interventions, “art as therapy” and “art psychotherapy” are explanations without traction– leaving the public to come to its own conclusions about “what is art therapy” and defaulting to “it’s an art project” as the definition.
Be well,
Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT
© 2015 Cathy Malchiodi
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201507/art-therapy-it-s-not-just-art-project
The Power of Forgiveness
“You hold in your hand an invitation: to remember the transforming power of forgiveness and loving kindness. To remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.”
― Jack Kornfield
“Reborn” Kristin Kane Watercolor 2015