Broken Crayons Still Colour

My journey with visual art therapy began three years ago during a workshop when I first met Susan Bolluogh Khare, a strong advocate of person-centred art therapy. Her exhibition in Pune on The Therapeutic Value of Art showcases the role of creative art in the therapeutic process.

One’s expression through art is used to address both psychological and emotional needs of the person in visual art therapy. According to Khare, it is the artistic process that is more important than the final product. Visual art therapy uses art as a medium for expressing oneself through a creative process on the path toward self-awareness. According to Cathy A. Malchiodi in her book Expressive Therapies (2005), art therapy uses traditional psychotherapy and its techniques in union with the creative process to improve one’s psychological health and wellbeing.

During her workshops, Khare urges participants to explore the art medium slowly in the beginning, by letting them to express their feelings through lines and colours. Subsequently through active imagination or the introduction of themes, art therapists like Khare help clients explore emotions like fear, anger, and sadness to get in touch with their senses. Extending emotions to cognition, Lusebrink (2004) explored the relationship between art expression and functions of the brain. The sensory processes involved while making art activates different brain regions, and the expression of art stimulates the kinaesthetic and visual senses in the brain before processing the information through cognition. By letting clients evince themselves through art, they may come to terms with difficult thoughts or feelings that may be at the root of their problems and explore ways to cope with them.

As an art therapist, one is skilled to identify the nonverbal representations and analogies that are communicated through the art form, which might not be as easily expressed in words. Riley (2001) has also shown that many adolescents are more comfortable expressing themselves with visual art than talking about their feelings. Khare emphasizes on the interpretation of the art by the person, who gives it meaning, as opposed to the therapist explaining the piece as followed in traditional projective techniques.

Art as therapy can be employed as a clinical intervention and is effective in treating a variety of symptoms in diverse populations. Creating art as a process in the therapeutic environment offers opportunities for counsellors to build relationships with the client and explore areas that arise from the client’s artwork. The integration of art therapy and solution-focused treatment has proved effective for substance abuse as it blends cognitive and perceptual strategies (Matto, Corcoran & Fassler, 2003). Research by Northwestern Memorial Hospital (2006), found that art therapy allows cancer patients to focus on something positive and gives them something they can control. Thus the process involved in making art is not only therapeutic but helps improve their quality of life and boosts their abilities to cope with stress.

Chapman et al. (2001) found that children receiving art therapy treatment experienced a reduction in acute stress symptoms and Gussak (2009) showed that art therapy greatly improved the mood of inmates by helping them shift to an internal locus of control. Creating art together brings a different synergy to a group and provides the therapist with insight into group dynamics. As prolific as art therapy is in groups, it can also be effectively used in a one-on-one format for personal development, self-exploration, and an in-depth understanding of one’s persona.

Pablo Picasso once said that “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” According to Khare, only when we are comfortable working with art as a medium and have explored our personal issues through art, will we be able to effectively work with others. Art therapy is truly an opportunity to explore oneself and develop skills of acceptance and empathy for the people with whom we interact in our daily lives.  

Nikita D'Souza

No Beef For You!

"What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others."

                                                                                             -Lucretius

Food habits are bound to differ in a country as multicultural as India. In light of the recent Beef ban in Maharashtra, the discourse on food rights becomes a very sensitive topic. There exists a food hierarchy in India that gives vegetarians superiority over their meat eating counterparts. This is largely because there exists a taboo on eating meat; particularly of the cow, an animal revered by the majority Hindu demographic as a sacred symbol. However one needs to keep in mind that food rights are part of a larger conflict that impacts the basic ethos of humanity.

The conflict of animal rights over human rights is real and the humane treatment of animals is at the core of animal rights. However proponents of the beef ban having vested political interests, are concerned about the animal rights of only one animal- the cow. This gentle bovine creature is thus being used as a political vehicle to manipulate the food habits and intimidate the minority. The discourse on beef eating consequently becomes very complex in the Indian context.  And therefore makes it all the more important to accept an ethnocentric view while discussing bovine consumption. The dominant caste Hindu majority regard the killing of cattle with abhorrence and their meat eating brethren with repugnance. Further, these views are often imposed by the dominant castes who belong to a higher socio-economic status and sadly have more power to decide laws that govern cultures. This is reflected in the draconian bills enacted by them that hide behind the façade of animal rights but which only seek to protect animals which this majority considers ‘sacred’. However, the failure to include other animals that are normally consumed to this bill further propagates the notion that the bill seeks to harass and subjugate the minorities to the will of the ruling majority.  

Conversely, Hindus that are a part of India’s largely agrarian economy are much more accepting of selling their cattle to slaughter houses. They represent a remarkably modern outlook. They view the cow as sacred in that it is part of their economic sustainability and viability. Yet they are more attuned to the reality that the lifespan of these animals (that often become akin to family members in the course of their servitude to the farmer) often exceeds their usefulness. Rather than cruelly starve them or leave them as accident risks at the side of busy highways they sell them off to butchers, using the sale money to purchase new cows. It is unfortunate that the butcher community largely consists of the Muslim minority. This serves as fodder to the Hindu majority who believe that minority religions convey unequivocally that God created animals, plants, flowers for the pleasures of man. In doing so, it inevitably flames the fires of communal discord. The economic ramifications of not accepting an ethnocentric view are proving to be very costly. Accounts from many different sources maintain that the largely useless cattle that exist in India today have become more of a liability that an asset in view of our land resources. The beef ban thus puts pressure on an economy that is already struggling to feed its millions who are dying from malnutrition. Beef then manages to serve two purposes, in that it provides a much needed cheap source of protein while simultaneously taking care of our very expensive cattle upkeep. The ban thus appears to be unsympathetic to the plight of the agrarian community and insensitive to the multicultural practices of various communities. The lack of provisions to make up for the loss of livelihood for the communities that are entirely dependent on beef (slaughter, tanning, etc) and the fact that the animal chosen to be the beneficiary of human ‘kindness’ happens to be the symbol of sacredness for the majority culture makes the ban appear politically motivated.

Food is an important part of India’s cultural plurality. It is therefore necessary to remember that meat eating can be considered rational or irrational like any other practice or belief but must be viewed in the context of a culture’s adaptability. The failure to do so might result in the extinction of that culture. Moreover, in an era of advanced capitalism and universalization of democracy, a homogenization of people’s cultural practices would have disastrous consequences and would set up a foundation for communal intolerance. Thus policy makers by adopting ethnocentric views would be able to protect and preserve the animals they so claim to care for while preserving the multicultural heritage that is part of one of the greatest civilizations to exist!

Kimberly Rodrigues

Self-Care: The Vanquisher of Distress

“The heart pumps blood to itself, before the rest of the body.”

In the previous blog, we discussed self-care and how it ought to be made essential for a practicing psychologist. Self-care is defined as the behaviours and actions taken to increase one’s mental and physical well-being and resilience. Self-care helps in increasing a therapist’s competence as it models healthy behaviour for the client, enhances self-esteem and confidence, expands the therapist’s reservoir of empathy, and reduces the occupational hazards of compassion fatigue, emotional burnout, and vicarious trauma. Self-care is not a voodoo science. Extensive research has shown that self-care improves attention, immune functioning, self-esteem, empathy, and counselling skills (Schure, Christopher, & Christopher, 2008; Shapiro, Brown, & Biegel, 2007).

Empathy and vulnerability form the basis of self-care. These terms are often used casually in conversations, yet one may have failed to understand them. Wiseman (1996) classified empathy into four crucial parts. Empathy is built upon the cornerstones of perspective taking, non-judgementality, emotional recognition or understanding another’s feelings, and communication of the understanding. A therapist ought to apply the same concepts to themselves; for instance, they must not judge their own thoughts and feelings. A competent therapist would have to recognize their own emotions and communicate this understanding to their conscious mind. Empathy can’t be limited to clients only but has to be extended to therapists themselves. Empathize with your body, empathize with your brain, and empathize with your own depleting empathy.

Vulnerability is a vital part of self-care. Brene Brown, one of the pioneers in research on vulnerability, says that “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.” She found that embracing one’s vulnerability and breaking the power of shame helps people in forming connections and fostering self-growth. Therapists should not see themselves as all-mighty superheroes. Accept your vulnerability, acknowledge your limits, and don’t be ashamed of seeking help when needed.

Hence, a self-care regime should involve practices that help you empathize with yourself and cultivate acceptance of your vulnerability. There is no one correct method of self-care. It can be tailored to your own interests and needs. Practicing mindfulness, exercising, practicing yoga, walking, reading, listening to music, or even watching trashy reality TV can be a form of self-care. I have had a colleague tell me that she would take 30 minute nap every day in order to reenergize herself. A therapist should also seek supervision as it acts as a constant source of support. Often a supervisor would be able to spot the signs of compassion fatigue or emotional burnout in a therapist and would prevent him/her from falling down the rabbit hole.

You must have surely noticed how vital self-care is, as well as how easy it is to practice. However, one of the common barriers to self-care is lack of knowledge. It is not an aspect of formal training. There might be PowerPoint presentation on it but that’s where it stops. It should be promoted just like any other counselling or clinical skill. Hence, self-care should be a fundamental part of a therapist’s daily regime. It should treated as a vital skill for we often hear the age-old adage “Prevention is better than cure.”

Here are some resources to get you started, because the first step to practising self-case is learning about it.

Brene Brown: The Power of Vulnerability

Caring for Ourselves: A Therapist's Guide to Personal and Professional Well-Being by Ellen K. Baker, PhD

Prachi Bhuptani