A presentation created for the purposes of the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange Mind Your Mind, held in the Czech Republic, Jablunkov-Písečná in 2022.

1. Jablunkov, 19-
27.09.2022
Art as a way to
treat trauma and
depression

2. Definitions:
Art therapy is a creative method
of expression used as a
therapeutic technique.

3. QUOTE:
Art washes away from the soul
the dust of everyday life.
Who said that?

4. did you
know?
Artists like Francisco de Goya,
Vincent van Gogh, Edvard
Munch, Frida Kahlo, and Mark
Rothko likely suffered from
mental health problems at some
point in their lives. Their art
uniquely reflects their struggle
and psychological condition.

5. Help people to resolve their conflicts and
problems
Develop interpersonal skills
Manage behavior
Reduce stress
Increase self-esteem and self-awareness
Benefits of art therapy

6. People with emotional trauma, severe depression and anxiety,
physical, mental, sexual abuse, often find art therapy to be enormously
helpful.
it is an especially important type of therapy for working with children
going through family transitions, or may have been the victim of abuse,
who
may not have the vocabulary to share their experiences in a
therapeutic setting.
WHO CAN
BENEFIT
FROM ART
THERAPY?

7. How does Art
Therapy work
with trauma?
Caused by What?
Trauma can be caused by abuse;
emotional, physical or sexual. The
witnessing of domestic violence or
traumatic events, such as accidents, injury
or war are also known causes.
Evidence suggests that those with adverse
childhood experience are more likely to
experience Post traumatic stress disorder

8. Here’s the deal with art
therapy: using art to express
emotion can access both
visual and body memory.
Images created connect
visually, while the use of tactile
materials like clay and paper
connect a person to physical
sensation.
How art therapy
treats trauma

9. Feeling safe is critical for a successful therapeutic
relationship for victims of trauma. And getting
grounded in the present moment is fundamentally
important.
Here’s why: before any of the traumatic memories
can be processed, it’s crucial for the person to know
that the trauma has passed, and that any
conversation about the trauma is in the here and now.
TREATING TRAUMA
WITH ART THERAPY

10. Feeling flooded by the traumatic memories can be
incredibly overwhelming. And that can block healing.
Here’s a key reason art therapy so helpful for those who
have experienced trauma: traumatic memory is visually
stored in the mind, connecting to these memories
thought art can be a more immediate release, allowing
the person to face aspects at their own pace, with
agency, without becoming overwhelmed.
TREATING TRAUMA
WITH ART THERAPY

11. When we experience a traumatic event the
part of our brain that is responsible for
language shuts down.
At the same time our brain’s danger
recognition centre is on high alert and
records the traumatic memory visually and
in the form of bodily sensation.
WHAT HAPPENS TO
LANGUAGE WHEN
TRAUMA OCCURS?

12. bENEFITS?
Using art to express emotion accesses both visually stored memory
and body memory, as not only does it enable people to create images,
but the use of art materials such as clay and paint can reconnect them
to physical sensation.
They may be cut off from their bodily senses, particularly in cases of
physical and sexual abuse. Some researchers have suggested that
the senses of touch
and sight connect directly to our brain’s fear centre, which is why art
therapy is ideally placed to work with traumatic memory.

13. People who have suffered physical and
sexual abuse are often disconnected
from their bodily senses, and it’s thought
that connecting to sight and touch taps
into the part of the brain that senses fear
– making art therapy a particularly
powerful healing modality for those that
have experienced trauma.
THE ONLY
WAY?

14. THANKS
for attention!