Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This paper argues that the subject of trauma may engage in another type of therapeutic procedures; the therapeutic process/ cathartic process of art.Psychic trauma cure not only involves traditional ways of healing as Freud's talking cure; the telling therapy and the expressive writing or the so-called: The writing therapy.These strategies almost achieve the same cathartic functions.The choice of the appropriate cathartic means is primarily based on the survivor witness extent of satisfaction regarding the opted cathartic tool and the extent of its ability to stimulate pathological and traumatic states; perceived as an integral part of the curative process, with less damage.There is also a resemblance and an affinity in terms of the challenges that may lead the testifier to endure a condition of retraumatization, no less severe than the original former trauma event, as it results in a manifestation of pathological emotions once the process of un/voluntary recall is stimulated; the socalled state of emotional re-experiencing.The purpose of this article is to provide the similarities existing between art therapy and other traditional cathartic measures.It indicates when art therapy first emerged as a new approach, a possible substitute to traditional cathartic means and a new way to process their/ this unclear loss, their psychic/ emotional trauma.Through an analysis of Art Therapy: Trauma-Informed Expressive Art Therapy Toolkit, Creativity and Recovery: The Mental Health Benefits of Art Therapy published in 2018, Bibliotherapy: Its Processes and Benefits and Application in Clinical and Developmental Settings published in 2022, and A Working Definition of Music Therapy published in 2022, I contend that these works expose the cathartic stages and functions of each art modality, enhance the similarities and the differences with the traditional means of catharsis, and discuss their degree of effectiveness.
Language: English
Subfield: Conservation
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4409680267