![]() ![]() ![]() I think that in our society, where we are constantly being told who we are and what we need by advertisers and social media, memories that enable us to hold onto ourselves are stabilizing and provide an anchor to hold onto. Not necessarily traumatic or especially lovely memories but rather very rich in information on what kind of person we are. Recently, I’ve been thinking about key memories that tell us who are memories that contain information about our identity. I have also asked clients to try to locate a positive memory of having felt calm or safe and, again, asked them to describe this memory in great detail as a way of having a safe place in the mind to go when they are feeling stressed. I’m interested to know what Art Therapists would say about the therapeutic benefits of making ‘one-off’ drawings of particular memories outside of the context of a course of Art Therapy.Īs a psychologist I usually work with people struggling with traumatic memories using talking therapy often asking clients to describe the traumatic memory in detail and working with the blaming or guilty thoughts that are associated with the memory. Since qualifying as a clinical psychologist I have only had very limited contact with colleagues working in Art Therapy services but my understanding is that clients usually undertake weekly Art Therapy sessions over a period of months or even years. In particular, I’ve been thinking about the process of drawing a precious memory from a psychological perspective and wondering what therapeutic value this might have.Īrt psychotherapists enable clients to gain therapeutic benefits from making art but it might be a surprise to people outside of the field that clinical psychologists do not usually receive training on the therapeutic benefits of making art. Over the past couple of years, whilst working as a clinical psychologist, I have picked up my pencils and paintbrushes to reconnect with making art and, of course, I’m always thinking about the bridges between the two fields. I don’t worry that my house will burn down and I’ll lose my mobile phone, photo albums and all my important documents, though of course this might well happen, but I do worry that I will eventually lose my memory and my most precious treasures that it holds. These days most people would, in truth, rescue their mobile phones, probably because they are, amongst other things, electronic photo albums.įor me, and I imagine it’s the same for most people, the real treasures are memories of things that were not photographed. The response was invariably their photo albums. Several years ago, before mobile phones took over the realm of photography, I used to read a weekly magazine article that asked interviewees what they would save if their house was on fire. What are the benefits of drawing a positive memory?
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