4 Ways To Overcome Trauma Through Art

When going through a complex and painful situation, we may come to think that there is no way out. It has happened to all of us.  Sometimes we become self-absorbed, and we stop seeing the rest of the things that are around us, because there are traumatic situations that leave us breathless, not knowing what to do, being paralyzed while we think about them over and over again.

A trauma is an emotional wound, which affects our well-being, and the truth is that we can all come to live it. In order not to lock ourselves in the pain that a traumatic experience can generate, we can find different ways out; that is, strategies that make us feel better or that help transform that trauma, and one of them is art.

Through art we can restore or transform that pain we feel. It consists of reshaping that traumatic situation that overwhelms us so much through creativity. Thus, suffering would begin to transform into learning, while little by little we transform the emotional wound. So, let’s see how to overcome a trauma through art through the following four paths.

Connect with the deepest part of you to overcome a trauma through art

To overcome a trauma through art it is important to connect with the deepest part of ourselves, to identify what feeling this situation generates in us and to be able to transform it. It is about thinking about ourselves and trying to locate what emotions we can associate with our emotional wound.

The deep connection will help you find how to do your work. If you can’t connect instantly, don’t worry, this takes time and practice. It will be easier if you are in a place that you like, with a pleasant atmosphere. For example, a place where you can be alone, listening to whatever music you want: a park, your house, a beach … the options are endless.

Once you identify what you feel, begin to express it as you like. You can do it by composing a song, writing, painting, dancing, singing, or making a sculpture. You are the creator of your work! Think about your deepest feelings and ideas associated with that emotional wound and begin to shape them as they deform.

To overcome a trauma through art: be you

When it comes to doing your work, it is important that you be you, do not think about what others think or want. Think of yourself, how you are and the value you have, you are unique. Therefore, you more than anyone knows what strengths and weaknesses you have, recognizing them will help make it easier to express them in your work.

Do not reject the ideas that come to mind, put them in your work. Find your own strengths, be tolerant of your past, think about what you can learn from painful situations and how you can creatively transform them.

Avoid judging  yourself , give yourself the opportunity to be who you really are with your values ​​and with your imperfections. Your work is the place where you can put all the ideas that come to your head, no matter if they are painful or not, allow yourself to take out all that pain that you carry inside and put it in your work of art. Thus, as the work is yours, you can put everything you want.

Giving yourself permission to show yourself is the best way to increase creativity. To overcome a trauma through art, transform that emotional wound into something enriching with your own body and the materials you consider.

How to facilitate the creative process, to overcome a trauma through art?

To make it easier for you to overcome a trauma through art, we propose the following strategies:

• Brainstorm whatever comes to your mind.

• Listen to yourself
• Accept all thoughts and emotions that come with love.
• Don’t judge yourself.
• Think about what you could learn from the painful situation.
• Think of a way to transform the emotional wound and show it in your work.
• Pick a place where you feel comfortable.
• Choose the materials you are going to use.
• Put the music that you like the most.

All this will help you to carry out your work : being in tune with you, with the place, with the situation that afflicts you, and with the learning and transformation that you can draw from it, it will become clearer what you want to put in your work.

To overcome trauma through art, learn from the visions of art and psychology

Boris Cyrulnik, psychoanalyst and neurologist at the University of Var, in France, proposes that art facilitates the expression of what is very difficult to put words to, a way of liberation, emotional control and that the person is heard. Thus, he tries to “overcome trauma through art”.

Now, art and psychology have studied the importance of art to overcome traumatic experiences. Here we show you some visions:

• Art therapy. Psychology, art and education have come together to establish a discipline that seeks emotional well-being, using art as a therapeutic route, which they have called art therapy.
• Psychoanalysis.  Through art we express unconscious aspects, such as those of a traumatic situation. Art would be a means of expression, of catharsis, that is, of liberation.

• Gestalt. It proposes that man can recreate reality, based on the stimuli to which he is exposed. Thus, from perception, negative situations can be transformed, art is a path.
• Psychoeducation. Psychoeducation proposes that it is possible to transform experiences, through learning and remodeling those experiences, a facilitating element is art.
• Art workshops. Art is a way of expressing emotions. Furthermore, according to the art historian, Ernst Gombrich is a form of perception and reality. Thus, through the creative process different situations can be captured.
• Integral Psychology. It promotes enhancing the creativity of the human being, through the development of consciousness.

Through art we can express the ideas and feelings associated with the trauma we have. So, art is a vehicle to communicate and transform what distresses us. A wonderful method of turning our trauma into a metamorphosis.

Definitely, art is one of the ways to overcome a trauma, connect with the depths of you and begin to mold and reshape that painful situation, choosing the material and type of art that you like the most, and let’s get to work! ! Transform your emotional wound through art.