How Art Materials Are Used in Expressive Therapies Continuum

"The Body'southward Wisdom" from the visual journals of Cathy Malchiodi, PhD

Source: © 2018 Cathy Malchiodi, Ph.D.

In psychotherapy and peculiarly trauma-focused work, we oftentimes talk well-nigh working from the "lesser-up." That generally ways a progression that begins with the torso's sensory and somatic experiences as the foundation for eventual exploration of emotions (affect) and personal narratives (cognition). While a "tiptop-down" approach is nonetheless on the bill of fare, most often reparative applications of expressive arts generally begin with somatic-sensory experiences — that is, the experience of apotheosis. Simply put, embodiment is an implicit form of intelligence that is in directly contrast to the prevailing notion found in most forms of psychotherapy that focus on the heed equally the chief source of intelligence.

There actually already is a framework for this progression within the field of expressive arts therapy — the Expressive Therapies Continuum or ETC. And this may surprise y'all — it's been around since 1978. The originators, Sandra Kagin (Graves) and Vija Lusebrink, based this continuum on the existing models of human development and information processing of the time. According to Lusebrink, the levels of the ETC reflect three established systems of human being information processing: kinesthetic/sensory, perceptual/affective, and cognitive/symbolic. There is a quaternary level of the ETC, chosen the creative level, which is a synthesis of the other three levels of the continuum. This terminal level is a little vague, explained as an intersection of the three previous levels or a transcendent experience beyond them. "Creative" is a loaded word that is often elusive by definition, just the prevailing ETC consensus maintains that information technology is an experience of wholeness, healing, and well-being found through cocky-expression either through the integration of the other three levels or fulfillment at whatsoever given level. Because of the way I use this framework to trauma-informed practise, I refer to this level as "integration," because the term more closely reflects actual reparation — the ultimate goal of any psychotherapeutic approach.

More recently, the ETC has been practical in various means, only more often than not within the field of fine art therapy. Because art therapy as a field tends to remain with in a well-confining silo of specific visual methods, the ETC has not nonetheless fully embraced what information technology truly is — a framework for "expressive therapies" (dance/movement, music/sound, dramatic enactment/theater/part play, creative writing, and play) rather than visual arts but. And this is where the "healing in three-office harmony" actually is establish, in expanding the current thinking to include various embodied approaches. To accomplish this, art may non always exist starting betoken for most traumatized individuals. "Getting into the body" through motion, musicality/audio, dramatic enactment, and play is more than in sync with the sensory-kinesthetic level and support a "bottom-up" approach to trauma-focused intervention.

Hither is a simple example of this progression in action. I normally first a session with some form of movement for a few minutes; this may involve some stretching, chair yoga, or simply some bilateral move where the person is simply moving both sides of the trunk. Sometimes I model movements that soothe and calm individuals, such as Peter Levine's "hand over heart and hand over abdomen" approach, allowing the person to mirror my movements and to establish attunement at the beginning of the session. To capture any of these sensory/kinesthetic experiences, adjacent I might invite the individual to use drawing materials to "show me through colors, shapes, and lines what that feeling in your torso looks similar. Don't worry about making it into art, just put something on newspaper. You tin can even only brand marks on the paper with colors." For those individuals who exercise not relate to images, I may invite them to employ a drum or other simple musical instrument to limited the motion feel, or to stay with the movement and employ props to express it in various ways.

To continue this process, and if the person is comfortable, I may propose drawing the perception of that feeling (bear upon) in the trunk. I may provide a simple pre-printed body outline and requite the following prompts: "Can you lot show me where that feeling is in the body? If information technology feels like it's outside the body, that's OK. Just show me through colors, shapes, and lines was that looks like." Finally, I ask, "What kind of story (cognitive level) would that epitome tell me if it could talk? If it's a worry, for example, what would that worry say?" This terminal office encourages storytelling, creative writing, or dramatic enactment through a tertiary-person vocalism, as if the image is doing the talking. The use of a 3rd-person narration is an pick to support safety and establish some distance in talking about what may exist difficult stories.

This is only one example of how to apply the ETC to work that begins with the sensory/kinesthetic, body-based experiences. Non every individual may motion through all three levels of the ETC in a session or even several sessions. In fact, one or two levels may be optimal for some people, depending on what trauma reactions are present or need attention. For others, starting with a "top-down" sequence may be preferable, because talking may experience less threatening in the beginning than through more than body-based or bear on-laden experiences. Because I work with trauma, I generally start with a somatosensory activity, considering most of my clients are holding free energy in the course of tension in their bodies; it has to be released before the person tin can really engage in exploring emotion and narrative.

In that location are many more nuances to the ETC than I can describe in this short caption. Merely what I repeatedly find essential is that the private eventually is able to fully admission all three expressive levels of the continuum through self-expression. This is the "three-part harmony" that I believe starts the flow of embodied intelligence and becomes the foundation of trauma reparation and integration via the expressive arts.

References

Kagin, Southward, and Lusebrink, V. (1978) The expressive therapies continuum. Fine art Psychotherapy, v, 171-180.

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Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/arts-and-health/201812/expressive-therapies-continuum-three-part-healing-harmony

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