Can creativity help us process trauma?

In this article, we’ll explore how to recognise the effects of trauma, ways to use the creativity we all have to support healing it, and how to avoid the risks of this practice.

What is trauma?

Trauma is not what happens to you but the wound it leaves you with. The cause may be clear: you may have had an attack, accident, or were abused. Or it could have been events not usually associated with trauma like feeling rejected by society (whatever the cause: sexual identity, emigration or any kind of difference) being bullied, or abandoned, grief or the loss of a relationship or a loved one. Or it could be the repetition of less painful experiences. 

The result is that a negative idea about ourselves is created, which, when triggered we seem unable to change and keep repeating the same undesired responses and painful patterns.

Have you ever found yourself, when there is a minor challenge, reacting in a way that, rationally, you would like not to, but find yourself unable to stop it? Felt charged with feelings that you may not understand or can control? You may even have done therapy and understand it, but still feel unable to act differently. This could be trauma. What can you do about it? And can creativity help you?

The connection between creativity and trauma

Many artists come from very painful and traumatising backgrounds; Friday Khalo had physical pain since childhood, Silvia Plath’s father died when she was 8, Toulouse Lautrect had a bone disorder, and Van Gogh's relationship with his mother was tense and cold. Was that part of the drive to become artists and did their creativity help them? 

Do we love them precisely because they express what we often feel? What are Munch’s Scream, or Picasso’s Guernica, but trauma painted on canvas? 

Is creativity helpful?

Perhaps you have felt the desire to be creative after pain, too, journaling, painting or just daydreaming. Why do we feel the push to create? The creative world is an arena where we can explore the pain we are suffering outside of ourselves and come to a more detached view of it, that is soothing and can be enlightening. 

The catharsis of expressing our pain is a relief more so if communicating it to others. It is also a place where we can exercise some level of control; if we are being bullied, abused or feel isolated, in the creative world we can fight back, find allies, and set boundaries. 

I found it sweet and telling in the film Frozen 2 when the children are attacked and scared, they play imaginative games in the snow, while they sing with Olaf “We call this changing the things we can” Sometimes it is only in the creative world that we can change anything, at least for a while.

Could creativity be dangerous?

But is this truly helpful? What is the point of changing anything in our imaginary world, if we are not changing anything in the real world? Didn’t Van Gogh cut his ear anyway, and die by suicide like Virgina Wolf and many others? 

There are some risks in using creativity as a processing tool. We can get stuck in the creative world and avoid the harsh realities of the real one, or we can even take there our blocks and fears and remain in them in a loop of pain. 

So how can we reap the benefits and avoid the risks?

How to reap the benefits of creativity and avoid the risks

Dream-work

Being an artist and a counsellor. I was always attracted to the cross between these two areas. When assisting a symposium on trauma I was struck by how creative the tools were. For example, there is research on the benefits of imagining a good ending to our nightmares. It sends a powerful message to our unconscious.

We can, also, prepare before going to sleep for dreams by imagining the protective resources we may need, thus giving come our unconscious the tools it may be struggling to find. Clients benefit from this, not only having fewer nightmares but also feeling more empowered in their waking life. What is dreaming and the unconscious if not a world of imagination trying to reach a good conclusion? We can consciously help that process. 

Somatic work

Of course, the process should be grounded in very real somatic work and should be best practised with parallel mindful attention to the body. Our bodies need soothing in the present when triggered because the trauma shocks them, and it’s replayed in them. Attention to how the body feels and some simple exercises, like holding ourselves and rocking in that embrace are very comforting and regulate our feelings. Mindful drawing, colouring, concentrating on the body and gently encouraging relaxation also serves this purpose.

Other supportive resources

EMDR success is well evidenced. Here, too, we use mindful attention to the body, and our visualising powers to bring up and strengthen the resources we may not have previously, while offering bilateral stimulation and/or eye movement, to facilitate neuronal connections. 

Creating a safe space to visit regularly in our imagination or conjuring up the qualities of an ideal father or mother, or an ally of some type, offers us what we were not given then and is deeply transformational. It does make sense, it´s what we needed and didn’t get. These resources are utilised to support clients in their exploration of their trauma, not as a stand-alone, but they are tremendously helpful in themselves.

In conclusion, we can use our creativity and the world of imagination to support our healing. We don’t need to be famous or even skilled to benefit from it, in reality, it’s probably better if we are not, as there is less pressure to produce. We can use colours or just close our eyes and visualise, we can sculpt and photograph.

When we create something, a painting, photo or piece of writing, it has the added benefit that we can keep referring to it, getting the energy we put into it back. I always recommend placing any nourishing resource where you can see it regularly. It's a great reminder and the process strengthens and grows.

Creativity is a part of all of us, a natural resource that is there, in part, to support our unconscious process. Using it, to express and communicate feelings is just the beginning, if we want to avoid getting stuck, we can consciously use resources, to bring up what we needed then or now, and play with it.

For best results and safety a good therapist is ideal and some repetition is required, so that new neuronal paths are established. But it does work, giving us a safe place to recuperate and gather strength, the support and conversations we need, and a rehearsal space to prepare for the actions we want to take.