Art As Therapy: Coping With Feelings of Grief During The Holiday Season
November 19th, 2007 |Written by Tanya Vallianos MA, LPC, ATR
Click here to contact Tanya and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile
The holiday season can be a challenging time for most anyone as the stresses of finances, increased demands of time and tasks, and unrealistic expectations show themselves in a grand way. Furthermore, if you are a person that is working through feelings of grief at this time, everything can become compounded.
The holidays can create feelings of depression, loneliness, and anxiety for the bereaved as they remember past events. Holidays by nature are filled with nostalgia, tradition and ritual, but for those grieving, this can bring up conflicted feelings of both comfort and distress as the absence of the deceased becomes more apparent. As the rest of the world is celebrating, it’s important for grieving individuals to acknowledge their emotional pain and get through the season with a minimum amount of stress. Being able to express ones grief verbally can be difficult. Art expression, as a non-verbal modality, can be an effective way of working through and containing grief when words fall short.
Throughout history, art making has been a means by which humans have expressed their grief. Whether through burial ceremonies, shrines, or memorials, the symbols that represent loss have been important for coping and relieving emotional distress.
Creativity can be a way to feel the sadness, anger and loss as well as the remembrance of times past in all their imperfections and grace, while taking time to understand oneself in the context of the whole. Overwhelming thoughts and feelings can be captured in the images thereby creating a new sense of control, organization, and containment. Focusing on the images or symbols enables a person to express stressful emotions without having to refer directly to details surrounding the loss.
Art making as a healing process allows for many positive effects to happen physiologically. The promotion of feelings of joy, peacefulness, and calm come about because of the release of the pleasure inducing chemicals called endorphins, the mood enhancing neurotransmitter serotonin, along with the lowering of heart rate and respiration. Alpha brainwave patterns are also initiated which are the patterns that present themselves during moments of prayer and meditation. The process of making art also provides a kinesthetic release that enables a person to channel her emotions and physical energy outward rather than suppressing and tightening within.
There are a variety of ways to use art and imagination as a tonic in the recovery from loss and grief. One of the ways that is helpful is by keeping a feelings art journal. This can be an excellent way to track what is happening within on a daily basis. Experiment with color, lines and shape to follow emotions, being aware of body sensations rather than focusing on thoughts about the current emotional state. For example, if you are feeling sad, try to sense where that sadness lies in your body and express this sensation as spontaneously as possible.
Another way that is helpful in containing grief is by using imagery to soothe and restore the spirit. Gather objects and images (photos, magazines, calendar photos) that bring forth feelings of appreciation, pleasure, compassion and gratitude and use these as inspiration for your own art. While this art making is meant to be enlivening in the moment of making it, it is also meant to remind and inspire you when times feel challenging in the future.
Art as therapy is medicine for the soul. And while creativity can be a wonderful companion on ones healing journey, know your limits. It may be important to seek out a professional therapist, support group or pastoral counselor that can help you further with the trauma or loss and can be the witness to your art expressions and emotions.
©Copyright 2007 Tanya Vallianos MA, LPC, ATR. All Rights Reserved. Permission to publish granted to GoodTherapy.org. The following article was solely written and edited by the author named above. The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by GoodTherapy.org. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Tanya and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile
November 20th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Art making as a healing process allows for many positive effects to happen physiologically. The process of making art also provides a kinesthetic release that enables a person to channel her emotions and physical energy outward rather than suppressing and tightening within. Excellent points are given by this blog.
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
All of this certainly rings true for me. I am 32 with two small children. My husband died in a car accident last Christmas Eve. I have been dreading this time since the moment I heard about the accident. I am very interested in participating in art therapy. I am eager to learn a productive way of dealing with emotions. I think that this blog helped me b/c now I know a little about what to expect and am not as intimidated by the idea.
December 4th, 2007 at 7:40 am
I would love to see a list of some concrete things we can tell our clients to do during this season that will lower stress. For someone like Heidi, what does the author suggest? I was thinking some things like shopping before the season is really here and getting everything wrapped might help. That way, when the burden of the season is upon her, she can really focus on herself and getting through the season rather than having to force herself to do something she really emotionally can’t handle at the moment.
December 5th, 2007 at 7:50 am
One thing I am wondering: what to say when I get the inevitable, “I can’t draw.” I have often recommended this strategy, but am often met with this response. How can I help my clients understand that it is the process that is important rather than the product? They are often so focused on the outcome that they can’t let themselves be in the moment and participate in an activity that will help them heal.