Tag Archives: healing

Does Art Therapy Promote Healing for Cancer Patients?

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by Kayla Blanche Tse, LMFT

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“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” — Rumi

What are the benefits of art therapy for healing cancer and chronic illnesses?

Cancer and chronic illnesses bring physical and emotional challenges that begin at diagnosis and continue throughout treatment and beyond. These life-challenging experiences bring forth a wide-range of fluctuating emotions. Common feelings are fear, anxiety, anger, hopelessness, grief, depression, loss-of-control, guilt, low self-esteem, and body-image issues. Such feelings are not easily expressed verbally. Art therapy is a non-verbal form of communication that accesses part of the brain not easily reached through talk therapy alone. It provides welcome expression and relief, while creating opportunities to process heavy emotions. Art Therapy is a a holistic approach to cancer care, treating the whole mind-body-spirit versus focusing on the emotional or physical symptoms. It is a welcome layer of emotional support, increasing hope and building self-esteem from the creative process itself.

What is art therapy? AmyDylan_hands2-680x453

During an art therapy session, art is created as a way to increase self-awareness and including a sense of control that is so quickly lost when facing a chronic illness. It allows the expression of complicated emotions. With the gentle support and guidance of an art therapist, one can develop effective ways to cope with symptoms, high-levels of stress, and opening the often feared discussion of life and our mortality.

How do I know if art therapy is right for me?

Art therapy is a safe and enjoyable way to relax and create hope. No art experience is needed since the creative process is ultimately the focus, not the finished art product. Art therapy is about the process of creative expression, processing emerging emotions with the art therapist, and the release of long-held feelings. These experiences with an art therapist influence the mind-body-spirit connection that is considered essential to healing and well-being during treatment.

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What can I expect?

The art therapist works with you, suggesting an art therapy “directive” or instruction, that is suited to your situation, physical capabilities, and healing goals. The art therapist has intimate knowledge of how certain art materials are more appropriate for different situations and individuals.  There is a wide array of artistic media, such as drawing, painting, magazine images collage, clay, or mixed-media.

 

Going Back By Going Within

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From Daily Om- April 15, 2008

Healing Childhood Wounds

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Events from childhood, our first experiences, have the power to shape our lives. Some do so immediately, offering us challenges to overcome and encouragement to make use of our talents and interests. In the process character is built, and we make the first steps upon our personal paths. Other events seem to lay dormant until adulthood, when our closest relationships help to bring out the deepest aspects of ourselves. This is when unexamined lessons can be put to use and untended childhood wounds make themselves known in a call for healing.

“…We have the power within us to heal ourselves at the deepest level. With the wisdom of an adult, we can be the loving parent or guardian we needed as a child.”

We may discover issues of trust coming up, or perhaps we find ourselves mirroring actions from our past instinctively. No matter the case, we have the power within us to heal ourselves at the deepest level. With the wisdom of an adult, we can be the loving parent or guardian we needed as a child. Knowing that we are each whole spiritual beings having a human experience, we can nurture ourselves from that wholeness, and then reach out to others as well. We can recreate scenarios in our mind’s eye, trying different outcomes and following them to their logical conclusions. In doing so, we may be able to imagine possible reasons a situation occurred as it did, and even accept that it could not have happened any other way. With the wisdom born from age and experience, we might be able to see events from a different perspective, bringing new understanding and freeing ourselves from any hold the past may have on us. 

Life offers opportunities to clear these weeds in the gardens of our souls. However, when we want to focus on easier and more pleasant tasks, we are likely to pass up the chances, leaving the wounds to continue to drain our energy and resources for living life fully today. We might find we need support to face the events of the past, so turning to a trained professional who can offer tools for healing can be a valid choice. As long as we remember that the child we were lives on within us, we are always free to go back and right old wrongs, correct mistaken perceptions, heal wounds, forgive, and begin anew.

Source: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2008/13454.html

I help people remember who they are on a Soul Level. 

Contact me, if you are interested in working with a therapist trained in Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) and Positive Psychology. I offer a free 20-minute phone consultation to discuss any questions you may have and to find out how I may benefit you as your personal therapist.

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